One of the main reasons we hold elections is to divine the Will of the People when it comes to choosing representatives and deciding on important issues.
If Candidate X gets more votes than Candidate Y, the people want Candidate X.
If Proposal Z garners more ‘yes? votes than ‘no? votes, the people want Proposal Z to happen.
That’s how we decide things ? the majority rules. It isn’t always perfect, but it’s by far the best system out there when you consider much of this unruly world prefers bullets to ballots.
That being said, looking at just the numbers, it seems to me that more village residents are in favor of selling the 98 S. Glaspie St. property than the municipal complex on W. Burdick St.
It’s simple math.
By a margin of 921 to 675, village voters granted the council the authority to sell the municipal complex via Proposal 1.
However, these same folks voted 1,069 to 521 to sell the 98 S. Glaspie St. property via Proposal 2.
Looking at just the numbers, Proposal 2 passed by 548 votes, while Proposal 1 was approved by 246 votes.
Also, 148 more village voters said ‘yes? to Proposal 2 than Proposal 1.
This tells me that although both proposals passed, it’s quite clear that more voters favored selling the Glaspie St. property than the municipal complex.
If I were on the village council, I would carefully consider these numbers as I deliberated on the fate of these two properties.
To me, there’s much more of a voter-mandate is to sell the Glaspie land. Numbers are numbers.
Here’s some more food for thought.
Four of the five village council seats will be up for election in September 2013.
I don’t believe this council should be making any major decisions such as possibly selling the old municipal complex and building a brand new one on the Glaspie property. I know the urge to build new monuments to itself is as natural to government as a politician’s urge to lie and cheat, but in this instance, the desire to construct pharaoh’s new pyramid should be suppressed.
In 10 months, the village could have a brand new council with an entirely different outlook on things.
I would hate to see this future council’s hands tied by the decisions of four officials who may not survive the election.
If the village actually gets some good candidates for once and the voters finally decide it’s time to sweep away the corrupt, the confused and the wishy-washy, there very well could be some new faces on council.
Personally, I’m hoping for at least three.
But then again, I was also hoping for council members who didn’t cover up crimes, had the will to fire employees who have clearly done a lousy job and had the good sense to spend tax dollars based on logic and cost-effectiveness as opposed to sentimentality and local prejudice.
You can’t always get what you want, but the great thing is there’s always another election just around the corner to keep trying.
I’m either an optimist or a fool for thinking things could finally change for the better in the village. Time will tell.