The Randomness at City Council

I walked into the city council chambers this evening to find the chambers nearly empty and all the council members staring at me. I must admit I felt slightly awkward.

We progressed into small talk and the reason for the stare-down unfolded, they were unhappy with the coverage (or lack thereof) during the city's week-long celebration of its founding.

"I could go into a long dissertation as to why I didn't come out, " replied with a certain about of sarcasm. "I could tell you it's because I'm stretched too thin, I cover the college, the school district and dabble in the police beat."

What's a girl to do?

After a few of the council members had their fun watching watching me be uncomfortable, one of them decided to come down from the high chair and mic, and share a piece of her life with me.

I must say this was a bit strange, to see the city councilwoman turn into proud grandma minutes before the meeting, then back to councilwoman.

Talk about random.

Anyway, the councilwoman felt compelled to show five or six photos of her 5-year-old granddaughter dressed in an elaborate costume for a "twinkle-toe recital."

The kid was cute, and it was fun to see the councilwoman so proud.

Just before I thought the meeting couldn't get any more random, the city manager decided to try and make me feel guilty.

"You have my cell phone number, I need yours. Alyson gave me hers and Rachel before that," he said.

I hate when people try to guilt me into doing things, even in jest. So his remarks invoked a bit of a defiant response.

"You're trying to guilt me, sorry, it's not working."

Well, the mayor finally decided to start the meeting, 5:30 p.m. on the dot. And of course one of the first things from his lips is some award the city received.

Can you believe they award people with ingenuity in logos? I figured that was more for advertisers, but apparently this city struck the fancy of the state, along with its logo.

By the end of the meeting I was ready to go back to my office and write a riveting story on the city council, and council members wandered off into executive session. It's definitely on of the more random meetings I've been in.

And yes, we all exchanged cell phone numbers.