More Lights and Cat Fights

OK, so the "lights" issue controversy last night was a non-starter. No one chose to pull the issue of additional lights at The Farm Sports Complex from the consent calendar so, without fanfare of any kind, the issue was passed on a 4-0 vote - Eric Bever was absent from the proceedings last night.

I went back to the agenda package to determine exactly what the council had passed, since there were a couple different permutations provided. I also contacted some folks at the city to be sure I understood what happened. In a nutshell, the city will now proceed to install new, permanent lights on fields 3 & 4, retrofit the current lights on fields 1 & 2 with more efficient lights that will more adequately control spill over, and will stub out (run the cabling to the appropriate locations) for fields 5 & 6 for future installation of permanent lights.

This is good news for those folks around town who are scrambling for fields of any kind and lighted fields in particular. Although it would have been a better idea to light all four remaining fields right now, this was a good first step and will take a little pressure off the need for identification of additional fields. There will remain a shortage of adequate fields even after 3 & 4 are lighted and scheduled, though, so the city needs to continue their efforts to find additional suitable locations - particularly since it looks like there will be absolutely no active sports tolerated in smaller parks around our city.

As mentioned above, Eric Bever was absent from the meeting last night, apparently on a family emergency. We, of course, wish him well. However, his absence left a hole in the format - no one to provide comic relief. We all know that Bever considers himself a real stand-up comedian who regularly regales us with his snappy one-liners from the dais. So, last night, his pal, our young jailer/mayor attempted to pick up the slack as he tried to lighten the mood by making wise cracks. He failed. My advice to him is, "Don't quit your day job."

Last night was not without it's funny moments, though. Katrina Foley and Wendy Leece hissed and growled at each other from the opposite ends of the dais. Foley expressed astonishment when Leece took a position 180 degrees opposite her previously stated opinion on the traffic calming issue. Leece fired back that she had every right to change her mind. Ah, the ladies - ya gotta love them!

Also, while on the traffic calming issue, Mansoor seemed to have become the reincarnation of Chris Steel when he lost track of what was happening and almost proposed a motion that was exactly the opposite of what he intended. Yes, it did bring a smile to my face.