What Is Goin’ On?

The general election on November 6th resulted in a run-off for Ward 4, Vidalia City Council, between Lisa Chesser and Daren McClellan. I thought I ought to update their pre-election interviews and find out what the two top candidates are doing to assure victory next Tuesday, December 4th.

The general election resulted in Lisa receiving 235 votes to 190 votes for Daren. Assuming each candidate holds their own, the real question is how the folks who cast 129 votes for two candidates who did not make the run-off will vote the second time around. Actually, the real question may be how many people will go to the polls to vote in a run-off election. The victor will definitely be the candidate that gets the most voters back to the polls. Sad, but true.

Vidalia is just like most other towns, I guess. It putters along, as if on auto-pilot (at least, that is the way it seems to most citizens) and every year or so it has a scandal or a controversy or something that gets everyone’s attention. In the meantime, everyone that has to deal with City Hall thinks things need changing and everyone that doesn’t have to deal with City Hall could care less.

The most telling thing I can say about the City of Vidalia government is the fact that, as far as I can tell, City Council has not had a vote that was not unanimous in years. I had occasion to review the Council minutes last year and went back 4 or 5 years and was amazed at the consistently unanimous votes. (I may have missed one, but someone will have to prove me wrong.) Now, you may think that good. I don’t. All this means is that either we don’t need a City Council or we don’t need some of them who just do what another tells them to do.

If you listen to Daren’s interview, at the end he explains why this is the way it is in Vidalia. His explanation is interesting. Essentially, he says that at the end of the council meetings, they go into closed session and work out their differences. I am not sure how Daren knows this, but I do know that if this is the way City Council makes decisions, they are violating the law. We have an Open Meetings law in Georgia and while some subjects must be discussed behind closed doors (land purchases, personnel), the purpose of closing the doors is not to allow discussion of general business.

But, I must admit, for years, the rumor has been that City Council gets their stuff done before the meeting is convened and the meeting is just a formality.

This unanimity obsession results in something Lisa mentions in her interview: the fact that people who do go before City Council generally don’t feel that anyone is listening to them. They don’t feel welcome, just tolerated, and when their 5 minutes are up, ignored. What part does unanimity play in this? Simple! If you have to convince all of them, then you can never convince one to take up your cause because it is more important to be unanimous.

Maybe this is just sour grapes on my part, since I don’t think City Council has ever listened to me the few times I went there. I admit it, they generally piss me off! But what do I know, I’m just a lawyer.

Will this election bring about change? For the better? Only time will tell!