In no particular order, last night’s meeting was significant in many ways. Former President Ronald Reagan used to tell a joke that started out, “It’s ok, we’re from the government and we are here to help you!”
- Top billing should go to the Water Utility Ordinance discussion which starts at about 30 minutes into the meeting. Do not worry, dear citizen, about that scary eminent domain language. It’s just in there because that’s the template required by the state government according to Mayor Kenneth Brennan. Linda Burke did add an important qualification: it won’t be used immediately. Passed 5-0 with no substantive discussion.
- The ordinance isn’t all bad: It lays the groundwork for eventually achieving important goals of former Mayors Bob Stearley and John Bassett by requiring a 40 year water plan, and if properly implemented, would allow the town to sidestep the primary factor which has hindered economic development in the past. If it’s mishandled, the town could end up in yet another convoluted legal morass.
- In keeping with the current administration’s now familiar habit of proclaiming transparency but doing the opposite, Commissioners had been provided with late breaking changes to the proposed solid waste disposal ordinance which were not made available to the public. Fortunately, due to Brad Hill’s concerns that the language threatens the viability of his widely acclaimed nuisance abatement program, the Commission immediately postponed the hearing pending a workshop on the subject.
- The solid waste ordinance is going to be unpopular; the version made available to the public was garbage (pun intended), and so I wonder if this was some kind of Trumpian opening gambit designed to make version 2.0 less odious. Nevertheless, it raises the specter of yet another town official hired for overseeing the vital task of monitoring citizens’ feeble ability to manage their own trash. Of course, dumpster snooping will be allowed only by a government-approved Sanitary Officer. Freelance dumpster divers would be subject to prosecution. Penalties for such reprehensible, anti-social behaviors have yet to be determined.
- The social media policy discussion was hilarious. Its adoption will pit boomer-tier, rulebook grammarians against cyberpunk pranksters. My money says that cyberpunks rule with the eventual outcome being the town’s social media accounts devolving into the pointlessness of a sanitized echo chamber.
- The evening concluded with the termination of an employee upon recommendation of the Town Manager.
- It is clear that following the departure of three of the original Town Commissioners from Commission Manager version 1.0, most traces of Edgewood’s vaunted hyper-libertarianism are gone. Version 2.0 sees the Commissioners lining up with only occasional token objections to jumping through the hoops necessary for accessing state and federal funds. Stay tuned: This is an Election Year. Commission Manager Version 3.0 will debut come January 1, 2026. If it contains new faces, then the dynamic will change again. Even so, it is clear that Republican or Democrat, Edgewood is learning to embrace big government.