Lack of tact: Councilman needs to find better approach

This city council needs to get its act together.

Councilman Bevan Foster walking out of Monday night's meeting after his efforts to restrict the mayor's voting power to tie-breaking votes only went down the drain along with his opposition to the implementation of stormwater fee policy for nonresidential facilities is indicative of a larger issue than those two matters alone.

Both he and councilman Antonio Williams are routinely on the losing side of split votes over matters that simply do not rise to the level of contempt these two gentlemen continue to exhibit.

And that is not to say they don't have good ideas or ask the right questions from time to time. The fact is they do.  

It just seems that they expend too much energy on frivolous arguments which have not and will not bring about the changes they both publicly state they'd like to see in the community which they represent.

What difference does it make if a meeting has to be called into session if more than four council members are in the same place at the same time?

Don't sweat the small stuff.

So what if the mayor votes on just about every matter that comes before the board? You're losing every vote 5-2 anyway. So say Chuck Allen stands mute -- you lose 4-2 instead.

There are obviously policies and practices in place regarding the way the city conducts its business that these officials disagree with. But they seem to direct their energy at fighting battles that don't matter, that don't advance their agenda, that do little but confuse issues that shouldn't be so complicated.

Find the clauses. Find the policies. Find the ordinances. Find the budget items. Find the statutes. Work within the system to change the system if you think the system is broken.

Maybe we're wrong here, we don't claim to have all the answers. But the current strategy doesn't seem to be too effective.

Published in Editorials on December 18, 2017 11:39 PM