by Roslyn Ryan
Editor

I couldn’t help but shake my head the other day, when a good friend from Cumberland began telling me about some of the “fireworks” at that county’s first supervisors meeting of the year.

“You just wouldn’t believe it,” she said.

Yes, I replied. I just might.

Few could deny that the first few weeks of the New Year were filled with more political turmoil than most of us would have preferred. Fewer still would say that the county as a whole is not ready to move forward and get down to solving problems.
It would seem, thankfully, that perhaps this is really what’s happening.

While I did not sit in on every session of the budget workshop last week, the mood in the room during the ones I did attend seemed different than it has in recent weeks.

Making budget decisions in times like these is tricky at best; at worst, it’s a battle that leaves even the “winners” feeling battered and bloodied. But there seemed to be a burgeoning spirit of cooperation among the board members last Wednesday afternoon, and a willingness to work together with county employees and each other to help find workable solutions.

I can’t deny it: it was a very nice thing to see.

Sure there will still be fireworks from time to time—we don’t elect people because we think they won’t stand up for what they believe. And sometimes that means the metaphorical nose or two gets bloodied. 

But once our elected officials learn to work together and handle disagreements civilly, leaving malice and egocentricity out of the equation, that’s when the real work of the county can begin.