I admit I was holding my breath a bit as I walked into
Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
First up on the agenda: election of a new Council
President (with Scott Coleman’s resignation, the former Council President,
Mayfield Heights city employee Chuck Brunello, has stepped up to be Highland
Heights’s acting mayor).
Why the breath holding?
Prior to the meeting Councilwoman Cathy Murphy was
reported to have, “expressed
interest to her colleagues in again serving as (Council) president” and that
she was also considering throwing her hat in the mayor’s race, as Brunello has
already done. https://www.cleveland.com/hillcrest/index.ssf/2019/02/highland_heights_21.html
Walking into the meeting I was imaging what might unfold if two candidates for mayor ended up serving as Mayor and Council President during this difficult post-Coleman transition period.
Would Highland Heights residents be subjected to
endless posturing and one-upmanship at council meetings and in the press for
the next 9 months, leading up to the November election?
Perhaps recognizing that possibility….and embracing
their responsibility to calm things down after Coleman’s shocking
resignation….council members chose a different route, elevating a new face to
the President’s chair: Lisa Marie Stickan.
Stickan, a lawyer who is well-known in Republican
circles, has served as both a ward rep and as an at-large member of Council
since 2010. She has a reputation for working well with her council peers---even
those with whom she has, at times, disagreed.
Democracy is all about the balance of power.
The city is well-served by Council members who
represent different points of view and who are willing to stand up and speak
their minds--- especially if they disagree with the mayor.
But it’s just as important that city officials not take such disputes personally.
Some council members are better at doing that ---not taking things personally---than
others.
My sense is that Council made the right move in their
Council President selection this time around.
