You're stuck with me for 3 more years

This morning 1,192 absentee and questioned ballots were counted and it is always fascinating how the results are almost identical to the ballots cast on election day. I won with about 55% of the vote and the additional ballots didn't change that at all. The precinct by precinct totals are posted online. Candidates often comb over them seeing which precincts went which way. People talk about the low turnout - 26.24% - but the number is questionable. The table lists almost 25,000 registered voters and that doesn't make sense. The answer is that people's names are not removed when they move out of the Borough. There is no national mechanism to remove your registration in one state when you register in another. I don't even think they do that within the state. So who knows how many registered voters we have that actually are living here.

Every year after the election the Assembly "reorganizes." What that means is that first of all we elect a deputy mayor. Then we tell the Mayor our preferences for committees and liaison assignments. The Mayor juggles everyone's preferences and presents a suggested arrangement. While anybody could challenge the assignments and ask for a vote, the reality is we know what chaos that would unleash and we tend to accept the Mayor's recommendations. That will happen in the next couple of weeks. We will also set new Assembly goals. I say "new" but they are usually not much different than the previous year. We may add one or two and take off some accomplished goals, but much is the same. These goals shape the agenda of the committees for the following year.

Monday the Public Works commmittee and the Committee of the whole meet. The Public Works Committee agenda includes and update on the Airport renovations and the closing of the streets project downtown in the Casey Shattuck area (north of the Federal Building). The Public Works agenda always includes a list of ongoing contract activity the city is involved with. The Committee of the Whole agenda has not been posted yet, but it is to discuss the issue of watersheds in the Comprehensive plan. Within that discussion we may talk more about Montana Creek.

The Planning Commission meets Tuesday 7pm, but no agenda is posted yet.
The Sustainability Commission meets Wednesday at 5 in the DT Library.