Last night (February 8, 2007), the Town Board of Town of Rochester held a Special Meeting, which is basically a Meeting that had not been scheduled on the annual calendar of the Town. Special Meetings are held when an official body has to address issues prior to the next regular meeting. Usually this is because something unexpected has come up, but it can take place for any of a number of reasons.
What’s unusual about a Special Meeting is that only issues designated in the Official Notice of the Meeting may be addressed. The Town Board, however, chose to address issues not designated at last night’s Meeting. The official notice posted on the Town Hall door not only failed to designate the topics of the Meeting, but also failed to specify that the Meeting was, in fact, a Special Meeting.
Now, the Town Board did not take any earthshaking steps last night. The Board did not vote to secede from the Union or declare the Earth to be flat. They did not declare Global Warming to be caused by Man in the absence of scientific evidence (oh, wait… that’s another discussion). They did not try to impeach the President or invade Canada. They just went about doing Town Business.
All that would have been fine, even though I personally disagreed with the substance of some of their Resolutions (hey, that’s democracy). The problem is not what they did, it’s how they did it. There was no reason whatsoever why these topics could not have been designated as the Business to be undertaken at the Special Meeting. None except the arrogance that says, “We’re in charge. We make the rules. Nobody tells us what to do.”
I was standing in the back, watching quietly (which is a miracle in itself, believe me), when a reporter from one of the local papers came in. She asked me where the Meeting’s Agenda was. Problem was, there were no Agendas made available to the public. Usually, there’s a pocket pinned to the bulletin board in the back that holds Agendas. Not last night. Why? What on Earth does the liberal regime hope to achieve by keeping the topics of discussion secret from the residents?
On Thursday night, State Troopers were called to protect the Board from their neighbors. Last night, Sheriff’s Deputies were present. Amazing. As if the police do not have anything better to do than act as babysitters or referees. Instead of respecting the extremely difficult jobs law enforcement officers have, our Town Board finds it appropriate to have them stand there, just in case the residents of the Town might call the Board to task for their inappropriate, undemocratic actions. I, for one, feel the Town owes the police an apology for dragging them into this.
To top it off, the Deputy Supervisor walked up to one of the Sheriff’s Deputies and introduced himself. According to one of our neighbors who was standing there, he told the Deputy that he called them to the Meeting and proceeded to rail against a certain member of our community, someone who stayed outside for the entirety of Thursday’s meeting, stating that this certain person was the one who was responsible for the entire mess. The childishness of this crowd never ceases to amaze me. “Wah, he hit me! Give him a time out!”
One positive note from last night’s Meeting: At the suggestion of one of the Democratic Councilmen, March’s Meeting has been moved to the Firehouse, to allow everyone who might be interested in what is happening in/to our Town to attend. What was amusing, however, is the obvious stupefaction with which the Deputy Supervisor received this suggestion. It was painfully apparent that he simply could not comprehend why the Meeting would need to be moved. I guess it just goes to show you that not all politicians are created equal.
What’s unusual about a Special Meeting is that only issues designated in the Official Notice of the Meeting may be addressed. The Town Board, however, chose to address issues not designated at last night’s Meeting. The official notice posted on the Town Hall door not only failed to designate the topics of the Meeting, but also failed to specify that the Meeting was, in fact, a Special Meeting.
Now, the Town Board did not take any earthshaking steps last night. The Board did not vote to secede from the Union or declare the Earth to be flat. They did not declare Global Warming to be caused by Man in the absence of scientific evidence (oh, wait… that’s another discussion). They did not try to impeach the President or invade Canada. They just went about doing Town Business.
All that would have been fine, even though I personally disagreed with the substance of some of their Resolutions (hey, that’s democracy). The problem is not what they did, it’s how they did it. There was no reason whatsoever why these topics could not have been designated as the Business to be undertaken at the Special Meeting. None except the arrogance that says, “We’re in charge. We make the rules. Nobody tells us what to do.”
I was standing in the back, watching quietly (which is a miracle in itself, believe me), when a reporter from one of the local papers came in. She asked me where the Meeting’s Agenda was. Problem was, there were no Agendas made available to the public. Usually, there’s a pocket pinned to the bulletin board in the back that holds Agendas. Not last night. Why? What on Earth does the liberal regime hope to achieve by keeping the topics of discussion secret from the residents?
On Thursday night, State Troopers were called to protect the Board from their neighbors. Last night, Sheriff’s Deputies were present. Amazing. As if the police do not have anything better to do than act as babysitters or referees. Instead of respecting the extremely difficult jobs law enforcement officers have, our Town Board finds it appropriate to have them stand there, just in case the residents of the Town might call the Board to task for their inappropriate, undemocratic actions. I, for one, feel the Town owes the police an apology for dragging them into this.
To top it off, the Deputy Supervisor walked up to one of the Sheriff’s Deputies and introduced himself. According to one of our neighbors who was standing there, he told the Deputy that he called them to the Meeting and proceeded to rail against a certain member of our community, someone who stayed outside for the entirety of Thursday’s meeting, stating that this certain person was the one who was responsible for the entire mess. The childishness of this crowd never ceases to amaze me. “Wah, he hit me! Give him a time out!”
One positive note from last night’s Meeting: At the suggestion of one of the Democratic Councilmen, March’s Meeting has been moved to the Firehouse, to allow everyone who might be interested in what is happening in/to our Town to attend. What was amusing, however, is the obvious stupefaction with which the Deputy Supervisor received this suggestion. It was painfully apparent that he simply could not comprehend why the Meeting would need to be moved. I guess it just goes to show you that not all politicians are created equal.
At any rate, this is far from over. Stay tuned. I’m sure more fun is just around the corner.
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