I will not lie. This Council Meeting took a lot out of me. And yet, oddly, it was freeing. The second meeting of my councilwoman life, and it was a hard one. Survived and over with.
We were considering an appeal made by a citizen to overturn the conditional use permit granted the city for a cemetery northeast of the Clark Farm. A motion to deny the appeal was made by Tom Tripp, seconded by Mike Colson. It passed 3-2 with Neil Critchlow and me voting no.
To say that it has been a polarizing issue is an understatement. And this time it was no different. I talked with other council members and we all agreed, it was not cut and dried.
I did my best as a councilwoman to get answers to questions I felt should have been asked the first CUP go-round. Sometimes it felt like a board game you aren’t familiar with, but others have been around the board a few times. So you are feeling your way around, raring to go, wanting to play full-on. There are nuances to a city meeting that I am grateful to have an attorney and the other council members there as a resource. I thought the other councilmembers asked good questions, too. When it was all said and done, we gave our viewpoints and cast our votes.
You know, in other countries, tyrants are still executing critics of their regime. Here, in this small town we call our own, we can agree to disagree, and still get city business done. Still shake hands afterwards and even give out hugs.
Here’s the thing. I like to win. And when things don’t go my way, well, it’s a hard pill to swallow. So when I got home, I turned to my scriptures because on a paleo diet, I couldn’t dull my disappointment by eating a batch of cookies. And this is what it had to say:
3 Nephi 21:8 And when that day shall come, it shall come to pass that kings shall shut their mouths; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
I read it aloud to my husband (who made the motion to pass the said CUP when he was on planning & zoning to begin with; yes, we have had interesting discussions since, but he no longer is on the P&Z, which is probably good for our relationship) and he laughed. Despite my bruised pride, I had to laugh, too, appreciating Heavenly Father’s sense of humor.
It is just one of many meetings – some hard, I am sure – to come. I have been told repeatedly it will be an interesting gig. And it is. Maybe with time, it will get easier, too.
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