Since the inception of this blog we have watched every single council meeting. None as torturous as what we witnessed this evening. The same point was made over and over and over again. And it felt as though M.C. was being badgered into changing her motion. (Good job standing your ground Mrs. Keegan-Ayer!) Oh let’s just begin.

M.C. puts a motion on the floor to start the process regarding MTC over from the beginning (meaning it would go back to the planning commission). To make things easier for the developer, she also included that fees be waived and that the time limit for this process is to take no longer than six months. This FACT letter and the question as to why it was introduced at the 11th hour and what influence it had is the main focus. Now for the next two hours this is discussed. Here are the highlights:

Kirby is the first to weigh in and surprise, surprise he totally disagrees. At this point he decides his best course of action will be to apologize to the developer of this property.

Roy, I’m sorry. I really am.

It’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. You’ve done everything right. I’m embarrassed for you!

Now it doesn’t seem quite appropriate for a county council member to apologize to a developer because the board that he sits on wants answers to questions. Questions we may add that a judge remanded to the council. Then again, many things Kirby does don’t seem appropriate to us.

It’s difficult to put what Tony did this evening into words. Really hard. Without being as redundant as he was, we will try and paraphrase his questioning. He objects vehemently to reopening this process. He doesn’t understand at all why anyone would have any problem with believing Blaine and Co.’s  affadavits, and he badgers, badgers and badgers M.C. about laying her motion aside. Even after his amendment is defeated 4-3, he still persists. Now during one of Tony’s first diatribes, Kirby pipes up with this:

Logic and reasoning is not going to matter

Good jumping grasshoppers! Do our ears deceive us? Thankfully Jessica jumps right in:

That is incredibly insulting. I can read and have a brain.

Seriously, Kirby. You have some nerve. I guess if people don’t see things your way there must be something wrong with their brain process. Because, Mr. Delauter, you obviously corner the market on logic and reason. Obviously.

Jerry makes some very good points about the affidavits. Because we all know that just because someone makes a sworn statement doesn’t necessarily mean they are telling the truth. If you were doing something underhanded from the start, the stuff you do to cover your butt does not change the way you were going to vote. That’s no reason to assume it didn’t influence the decision to determine your butt was sufficiently covered to go ahead. Oh the nuances. Court cases are not decided solely on what the players say under oath. We all know that right? Right?!

Readers….

Sometimes we think we shouldn’t give him any more attention; his Oppositional Defiant Disorder probably feeds off of it. We would be remiss if we didn’t. Sigh. Of course he doesn’t agree with M.C.’s motion. It’s unnecessary to get into details, because we are sure you can imagine. The end of this discussion, though: Billy starts yelling about making the development 100% age restricted. Why can’t we make it age restricted? Why? Bud tells him he can’t make this motion when another one is already on the floor. (Where oh where have we heard that before?) And he doesn’t stop. On and on about this age restriction. At the end of the discussion? What is going on in that head of his? (Don’t answer that!) After almost two and a half hours Bud calls for the vote. 4-3. Goes back to the planning commission.

We like that the council deliberates. We like that they want to come to a good answer on this. We do not like, however, the badgering techniques and rude language some council members used toward one another. To insinuate that someone doesn’t know what they are thinking and that they are not using logic and reason just because they don’t subscribe to your point of view is abhorrent.

Other items of the agenda:

After the break Bud wants to move to the hearing out of order on the agenda so those who have been waiting don’t have to wait any longer. Billy throws a complete fit! He-who-doesn’t-vote-on-the-agenda is upset that Bud wants to make things easier on those waiting. Pouty boy wins, and we go on to the vote on the Business Tax Credit (Democrat crafted, Republican opposed–yes, you read that right). It passed, by the way! Even though Kirby says it is rife for corruption. We know readers, we know. Irony overload.  Tony questions it and tries to propose a flat 60% rate, but is explained away. And eventually he votes for it.

Next up. A hearing on the proposed sale of the old school building at 520  North Market Street. The proposed use will be low rent apartments for our teachers, police, firefighters and disabled citizens. Now that sounds like something some of our friends on the council will automatically be on board with.  Well you would be mistaken. Kirby wants to know why we hear citizen’s complaints about the MTC but won’t listen to the people who live near this building? And Tony wants to know why he wasn’t personally contacted as a property owner near that property. Is that a thing? When you sell your property do you need to contact everyone around you? Anyway, passes.

Almost done, we promise! Jerry needs four votes in order to move on with discussion on the waterbody buffer legislation he hopes to put forth. Basically stating the natural forest land is the best filter for nutrients and other chemicals that could potentially go into our waterways. Kirby and Billy want to know the science, how many staff members Jerry has dared to talk to and my oh my people this is just a vote to discuss it. So passed.

Public comments were pretty tame but we do have to recognize this guy:

All his hard work has paid off. Who knows what will happen, but at least it’s come this far, and his respectful public recognition of the council members and their efforts was inspiring.

Council member comments consist of Tony being very upset that he isn’t getting a response from county staff. Doug Browning says they are finding it very hard to keep up with the requests from the council. But it does seem to be a legitimate problem and we hope that everyone finds a way to work together.

Lastly, we cannot believe that today of all days we agree with Billy on something. Medical marijuana needs to be available in this county. So if Billy is the one that is going to spearhead that, then so be it. Hopefully we will see some good discussion on this soon.

Until September 15th…