How did the meeting go??

Well for starters, sitting in that room was good practice for tonights meeting at city council. It was hot in there and not much circulation.

The rumor that I shared never made the light of day, so I'm going to simply consider it a rumor and nothing more with no merit whatsoever.

Get ready for the shocker... I think I can sit on a panel with RAID members and the rest of the group that was in attendance. Why?? Because for the first time the members of RAID at least nodded their heads in approval that a traffic interchange at Kingman Crossing is needed. Now, they didn't say it... and I hope that they do take that public stance. It will help them lose what I feel is an extremist position on the major issues in Kingman.

Will they do it?? Billie, you are a member of RAID and share in the discussions here on this blog, can you get Mike, Gwen, or whoever quoted in the paper that RAID would support simply the construction of a traffic interchange at Kingman Crossing?? If you can, we will be closing the gap in a drastic way.

Onto the gist of the meeting. The city manager's job status is still the hottest topic. There is simply no trust for the various department heads at the city. I have stated that I'm out of the discussion on the personnel matter and the reason has been that I felt that other community groups were simply going to stay against the needed infrastructure (i.e. the traffic interchange at Kingman Crossing). If the folks who were represented at this impromptu meeting actually all simply agree that the TI should move forward... in a way that is beneficial for the entire community... I can see getting on board with more public scrutiny of the city manager and even calling for termination. This is just me saying this though. I would take this view to the Association and the Government Affairs Committee if all community groups were on board with the TI.

Also... for the heavyweight community leader types in the room I was surprised when it was agreed that we should all seek a heavier influence when the time comes to find candidates for Council and Mayor. Actually not surprised by that, but at the fact nobody raised their hand to volunteer. (for the record, I didn't either)

I didn't get the chance to state this at that meeting, but I will here. I liked plenty of what I heard at the meeting. There was plenty of talk of transparency in local government, talk of treating each and everyone the same and to the letter of the regulations and ordinance's. Most all in attendance probably felt the same way as I did... but when the question was 'who should we support' nobody stepped forward.

I didn't do it there, but I'm doing it here. I'll step forward, count me in. You want a candidate that will be transparent?? I'm your guy. I may not always agree with everyone, but I'll at least tell you why I don't. You want a voice for the business people of the city?? Again, I'm your guy. I want to do business in this town until the day I get put into the ground. You bet I want to see opportunities for the best the area has to offer. I want to see people with the opportunity to have good jobs and carve out a nice living here.

You want a candidate that will take control back from the city manager?? I tell you what, if we all agree to have an open and honest discussion on the pro's of improving the city with badly needed infrastructure and are willing to use all the resources at our disposal (including state statute's) that could help bring about the improvements, then I'd be glad to share with you what the city is considering at any moment if elected to serve the city in some capacity.

See you at city council meeting tonight. Be there early.