The following is written by Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow:
This week marks the last meeting of the year for the City Council before they get a well-deserved break. For Councilmember Nancy Murphy, this will be her last meeting. In January, we will welcome Patrick Reed to that position. To both of them, as well as our six returning councilmembers, I want to thank them for their service.
I realize that joking about politicians is becoming a recreational sport, but these people really do hard work in what is a truly thankless job. We ask them to attend an average of two meetings per week. They get weekly packets of information, often topping 100 pages, that they are expected to read–and understand–before each meeting. They suddenly have to grasp topics like city budgets and wetlands mitigation. They have to be able to understand engineers, planners, lawyers, finance and police officers to grasp the full breadth of situations. And if a city can’t complicate an issue enough on our own, throw in the County, the State and the Feds!
On top of it all, they need to answer phone calls and emails from citizens – and forget about a quick run to the store without the potential for having to explain the transportation improvement plan. Really, I’m surprised we get anyone to run for Council at all. Thankfully, we do. Not only do we get people to run, but we get people who truly care about this community and are willing to sacrifice a lot of personal time, and perhaps some anonymity, to do what’s best for each of us. I hope they all get a little extra time over the next couple weeks to spend with their friends and family. And if you see one of them at the store, please thank them for their service.
