From my vantage, it's all good

Sitting in the back of the room, my eyes went to the ceiling in thought, searching for a word.

What was it I’m hearing? Politics? Sure, some. Deflection? Yeah, a little.

That wasn’t it, though.

---

And later, texting with a friend, I had trouble trying to explain how happy I was with the conclusion of you-know-what during Tuesday’s County Commission meeting.

Then it hit me: Defiance. I heard a defiance from people who said they weren’t going to let this annoyance get in the way of moving the county forward.

Know what? I’m right there.

First, the news. I didn’t expect any formal repercussions, and there were none. Commissioner Diana Finegan’s proposed ordinances regarding lobbying regulations received unanimous backing. And the board may end up crafting ordinances related to the process of requesting legislative funds, or allowing the administrator leeway to seek funds on his own.

See, that’s positive stuff right there. Those seeking blood from a turnip — and they showed up Tuesday — may downgrade the significance of those policy moves, but to me they’re golden.

I promised to wind this up today, and that’s exactly what I plan to do. 

This was not a pleasant six weeks, but it’s a healthy community that can face inner squabblings and move forward without lingering in the mire. 

I don’t bring this stuff out in the open to punish people or play gotcha. It’s for conversation. It’s always about the conversation around here, not the end game. A “win” is in the conversation itself. Peeling the onion back when the moment strikes is a good thing. It means we’re willing to debate matters of importance.

Witnessed something very odd Tuesday. Someone organized a parade of speakers to use their 3 minutes each during open to the public to read from a prepared script that contained all sorts of innuendoes and ugliness. 

That never works, and it didn’t work Tuesday. I cringed hearing it.

Look. I don’t condone the actions of the chair or administrator. But they’re good people who work tirelessly for the community. They have skin in the game.

It isn’t enough to take information that’s been laid out here these last six weeks and complain about it. Complain about the government. Complain about the blogger. Wah, wah, wah. No, that’s not how we roll here.

We are a defiant bunch. We’re opinionated and hot-headed and can be rather full of ourselves.

But when it comes to defending this community, it’s our defiance that holds true. Our defiance that seeks success in spite of ourselves.

That can be a good thing, and that can be a challenging thing. It’s good if we use the defiance as one community. Not so good if it’s defiant factions squaring off.

This deal isn’t worth that fight at all. We spent six weeks dissecting it. What needs to be said on all sides has been said. Continuing to harp on it only serves to disrupt.

This was never about personalities. I’m a government geek who believes in doing things in proper order. Those involved acknowledge that it could have gone better, and they’ve pledged to make sure loose ends are tied up.

And I doubt the administrator will leave commissioners in the dark about anything ever again.

Chamber president Josh Wooten was all smiles as he left the commission chambers. We shook hands and I asked him for a Cattle Dog chat. He promised to make that happen.

I’m cool with combining investigative reporting with blogging when the occasion arises, as we have just seen. But I’m not cool with continuing to dig in just to make a point. 

This is how it works. An issue arises, we debate it in the community, politicians have uncomfortable discussions, and we move on with another experience under our belts. If it needs to come back, that’ll happen organically, and we’ll deal with it then.

So, yeah, it went well. I'm content.

Have a great Wednesday, friends.

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