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December 19, 2007

We’re spending too much time on the table at City Hall

By Bob Belcher The Corsicana Daily Sun Wed Dec 19, 2007, 08:16 AM CST

That must be some table they’ve got at the Corsicana Government Center.

And, by the time they are through with the two items that have been “bouncing” on that table of late — the proposed hiring of a bond project coordinator and new regulations regarding the sale of scrap metal — they may need to get a 55-gallon can of “Pledge” to put the polish back on.

Neither one of the issues is a “rocket science” matter. You hire the guy, or you don’t. You pass the ordinance, or you don’t. Both proposals seem to make sense, maybe one more than the other, but I don’t think either one is a bad idea. But if we’ve got someone trying to “prove a point” for the sake of “proving a point,” — whatever that point may be — then there are some other issues that need to be tackled.

The council’s pleasure expressed on Dec. 4 by a vote of 4 to 1 was to have a work session to discuss the proposed hiring of a bond project coordinator. That work session should have happened at the Dec. 18 meeting. If it had, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation.

And I’m not alone in that thinking, but it’s not who you might think joining me in that, uh, well, thinking. Someone had a pretty good idea the answer at this week’s council meeting would be the same as Dec. 4, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a workshop and special meeting already called for Friday, Dec. 21, before the council even met and voted Tuesday night.

I’d like to have that explained to me in terms a simple journalist such as I can understand.

I’m not privy to all the information that makes its way to a council member about the city’s business. I see the “packet” that is prepared for each council meeting that spells out detailed information about the agenda items. However, I’m certain council members probably receive much more information than just that packet in the common course of business. And I’d like to think that in that additional information are the answers to a lot of questions that may be asked during the course of a “workshop.”

However, not wanting to hold a public workshop to discuss that information, or any information involving the expenditure of public funds, for whatever reason, and for whatever those funds may be for, is a bad decision.

End of discussion.

———

And another thing ...

OK. Just kidding about “another” thing.

We’re beginning to wind down this whole “holiday season” thing.

Sure, we’ve still got the big Christmas and New Year’s Day celebrations ahead of us, filled with family and presents and lots of goodies to eat. And we’re all looking forward to that.

But this week, nearing the end of 2007 and the dawn of 2008, a “right of winter” is occurring in the Daily Sun newsroom — Camille McClanahan is cleaning out all of her 2007 files in preparation for a new year of keeping track of everything from school menus to birth announcements to Local Beat items to church news ... the list goes on forever.

As you get ready to “ring out the old” and “bring in the new,” take a few minutes of your day to thank the folks around your workplace who make your work day an easier one.

Thanks, Camille, for all you do. And the same for Deanna, Janet, Loyd, Michael, Chase and Ron Farmer, and all of our local columnists ... the newsroom couldn’t do it without each of you and the talents you bring to the office day in and day out.

————

Bob Belcher is Managing Editor of the Daily Sun. His column appears on Wednesdays and Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at belcher@corsicanadailysun.com.

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