Tonight after a very short council meeting since we didn’t have a quorum I was taken to task, a little bit and in a nice way, about my blog and was told I came across rather arrogant. If that was the perception then I offer my sincere apology as that is not my intent with these blogs. In fact all I’m trying to do is get some of the correct information out there for some that are not getting the answers they need and deserve. However, I will defend myself to this end. I don’t have a problem with people disagreeing with me, in fact I welcome it so long as we can have a civil discourse about our disagreements and be willing to agree to disagree if we can’t find common ground. That said, what has been going on way too much in city council meetings is people throwing out wild allegations, be condescending to the people on the council and city staff and grandstanding to just show off or to try to make the council members look as bad as possible. I’m going to get a bit perturbed when I donate the overwhelming majority of my time (I get paid $21 per council meeting I attend, nothing more) only to have people that have been involved in any of the planning stages then basically come accuse me and the rest of the council of being just about anything and everything except the decent men and women that we are. We’re just there trying to do our best for the entire city of Carl Junction. We’re not always going to make everyone happy. I’m not always happy with the way things go. That’s the process. Live within it or change it.
I’m trying to get more information out there for those that are interested. Help me by toning down the rhetoric and lets work on making Carl Junction the best place to live in the four states. Respond to these posts with questions and suggestions. Be part of the process. I was asked a few months back why we didn’t have more people from the public on the Long Range Planning Committee. The fact is every meeting has been and is wide open to the public. If you’re not part of the process it’s because you’ve chosen not to be, not because there aren’t opportunities for you.
If you’ve got a gripe that’s fine but lets deal in facts rather than conjecture and with a civil tongue from all sides. To that end anyone in Carl Junction is invited to the new building on Saturday morning at 9am where we will go over some of the planning activities we’ve discussed and we’ll give the public, as we’ve done many times in the past, a chance to give input as to how you want Carl Junction to look 20 years from now. By the way, I was reminded tonight that the idea for the new community center was originally conceived in one of these retreats.
