Recently a member of the Stillwater City Council proposed hiring an outside consultant to help the Council more productively talk to each other and avoid the tension that has been building among them. Apparently for a mere $2,700 to $4,200 of tax expenditure, our public servants could learn to work and play well with others.
Thankfully, the proposal was voted down, though it was a close one. A bare majority, at 3 - 2, saved us Stillwater taxpayer’s from having to fund expensive kumbaya therapy for our political elites. Here’s the highlight from the debate
on this vitally critical issue for our government:
Key quote from the video above, delivered by the Mayor to a City Council Person
If your job is to represent the people, you’re doing a pretty crappy job representing the people. You have to listen to them.”
Now that’s the kind of frank, open exchange of ideas that democracy
demands. Certainly, a professional communications facilitator would never have let this happen. Thank goodness we won’t have to worry about such censorship of thought in the future.
As to the merits of the charge, I don’t pay enough attention to the performance of the Stillwater City Council to assess its accuracy. But when it comes to any politician, odds are it’s right on the money.
