The Alabama Moderate

I just got back. Once again, I had to leave early, but nothing new was being said at the time. Hopefully, no fights broke out after I left. ABC 33/40 would be disappointed, since they left before I did.

I didn’t learn anything new, but I have done some thinking and have gotten some excellent ideas from people I talked to. Before I get to that, I’d like to talk about the meeting in general.

The Argo Town Council has a lot to learn. First, you let the most experienced member of the council run the meeting. The guy who has only been on the council for three days should not be the guy running the meeting and answering all the questions. Second, get to the point. There’s no need for a speech about patriotism and U.S. history before you start addressing the needs of a small town. Third, if you are one of two council members who have been on the council for nearly 18 months, you’d better have a better answer to questions that have been asked for 10 years than, “We’re working on it.” Give a time table. Give an idea. Give something. After six years, you’d better have some idea as to what the people of the city want you to do. And finally, “We’ll put together a committee…,” is a fancy way of saying, “I don’t know.” Just skip past the part where you insult our intelligence by giving the exact same answer in the exact same wording to almost every question, and just say that you don’t know. Considering you’ve only been there for three days, it’s an acceptable answer. When people start commenting that they can get a straighter answer from Donald Rumsfeld, you’re in trouble.

Now on to the issues. The first issue was a rumor that was started on the pro-annexation side. It’s only fair that I include both sides, so I will. School systems are an issue for me, since I plan to either move or home school when my daughter is of age. That isn’t the case for most people, though. School systems are important. So when the rumor started that Argo students would not be allowed to go to Springville schools unless the town is annexed, people got understandably upset. That’s just not how things work. Springville schools are St. Clair County schools, and anyone who goes to those schools today will go there next year regardless as to whether or not Argo is annexed. That situation may change if Springville gets its own school system, and they have discussed it, but this is a situation that is several years down the road at best.

The rumor started (and stated tonight) by the opposing side is that Springville’s zoning laws will not permit current property owners to continue to have mobile homes on their land unless they are in a trailer park (and other similar situations). Again, this isn’t true, and it was already addressed at a previous meeting. If your land is currently zoned in a particular way, that won’t change until you either willingly change it or sell the land. If you have a trailer, you can have a trailer for as long as you like as long as the land is still yours. I heard a councilman state the rumor again tonight, which is as far as I’m concerned an outright lie considering that the issue has already been addressed.

Annexation will not (read: will not) resolve all of Argo’s problems overnight. Changes will take years, either way. Argo isn’t beyond all hope. There is a small chance that we can grow, even in the shadows of Trussville and Springville, but it will take strong leadership, cooperation, hard work, and compromise. The real question is whether or not the people of Argo are willing and able to give that.

One council member in particular stated that she felt stabbed in the back that the issue of annexation was brought to Springville and addressed by Springville without even so much as notifying the Argo council. They felt like people went behind their back. I have an answer for that. The people don’t trust you. The people of Argo are represented by two elected officials. Everyone else is appointed. That includes the mayor. In other words, the people of Argo hold a minority in representation in their city government. You are treading on thin ice, and you have to do something to show the people that they can trust you. Otherwise, you shouldn’t be surprised that they went behind your back. One solution is the process of selection of a new official when someone steps down. Instead of having someone appointed or voted on by the council, it may be a better idea to present each candidate at a town meeting and then have the people, not the council, vote on the replacement. I understand that it takes a little more effort, but it sure gives the people more of a sense of real representation.

The last thing I want to address is the mutual aid agreement with Springville. I know that it’s a purely political move. Both cities are still saying that they’ll keep to the agreement. But the message sent with the dissolving of the agreement was that our council makes emotionally charged knee-jerk decisions and that they are showing animosity toward our neighbors. It’s like Democrats arguing that their nonbinding resolution doesn’t really do anything. It technically doesn’t, but it does send a message. So why not send a different message? Why not send a message to Springville that we’re still friends? Why not go ahead and make the agreement formal again? It’s a good gesture.

I’ve had a few people email me and ask about my previous musings about joining city leadership. I still might, but I have decided that I won’t replace anyone who quits. I don’t want any public power or position unless it is given to me by the people. I may run. I may not. That depends on whether or not I feel that I can be a decent leader while managing my family. The family comes first. Period.