Running for Office
I'm thinking about running for a seat on the City Council.
Yeah, OK, I'm only about 30 percent serious about that, but I find that to be an astoundingly high amount of consideration for me. I know Doug's dad used to be on the City Council for Santa Claus (IN), and I believe my uncle is or was on the Mountain View City Council for...oh, forever, I think!
Normally such a thought would never cross my mind, but two stories in the newspaper this week got me to thinking about it. Apparently they've hired a consultant from St Louis regarding the next contract for sewage treatment. Apparently Company A has had the contract for 20+ years, and they took three bids for service. And the consultant suggested that they go with the lowest bidder. What did the Council do? They made a first reading to accept the bid from Company A (again), which is $700,000 more than the others. There doesn't seem to be much justification for this move, at least as far as I can see. (Read the full article here)
Item two from the paper: The former Community Development Director and the Director of Public Works are suing the city, claiming that they were told to break the law and then fired when they refused. Essentially they were told to turn a blind eye towards code violations in the city. (Article here)
Oh, and the mayor's assistant also decided to cut and run last week, citing that she had been intimidated by some member(s) of the City Council. (Article here)
So this is obviously...an exciting time...for the city. It's been exciting for a couple of years now, and now I'm at the point of actually being willing to jump in the fray. How absolutely terrifying. I've never run for anything in my life. (Often you don't have to actually run. You just step forward and offer to do it and people will hand it to you. Ta-da.)
The most daunting aspect is that I hear rumors that it takes something like 57 hours a week to slog through all the Council stuff that needs to be done, plus the campaigning. I still can't believe this thought is rattling around in my head.
Yeah, OK, I'm only about 30 percent serious about that, but I find that to be an astoundingly high amount of consideration for me. I know Doug's dad used to be on the City Council for Santa Claus (IN), and I believe my uncle is or was on the Mountain View City Council for...oh, forever, I think!
Normally such a thought would never cross my mind, but two stories in the newspaper this week got me to thinking about it. Apparently they've hired a consultant from St Louis regarding the next contract for sewage treatment. Apparently Company A has had the contract for 20+ years, and they took three bids for service. And the consultant suggested that they go with the lowest bidder. What did the Council do? They made a first reading to accept the bid from Company A (again), which is $700,000 more than the others. There doesn't seem to be much justification for this move, at least as far as I can see. (Read the full article here)
Item two from the paper: The former Community Development Director and the Director of Public Works are suing the city, claiming that they were told to break the law and then fired when they refused. Essentially they were told to turn a blind eye towards code violations in the city. (Article here)
Oh, and the mayor's assistant also decided to cut and run last week, citing that she had been intimidated by some member(s) of the City Council. (Article here)
So this is obviously...an exciting time...for the city. It's been exciting for a couple of years now, and now I'm at the point of actually being willing to jump in the fray. How absolutely terrifying. I've never run for anything in my life. (Often you don't have to actually run. You just step forward and offer to do it and people will hand it to you. Ta-da.)
The most daunting aspect is that I hear rumors that it takes something like 57 hours a week to slog through all the Council stuff that needs to be done, plus the campaigning. I still can't believe this thought is rattling around in my head.
posted by Kelly at
12:03 AM
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