When we arrived at 5:25 P.M., the 6 councilmen (notice men, no women) were already seated behind the long table at the front of the room. The Mayor was walking around greeting the few people in the audience, which included the Police Chief, local newspaper editor, radio station owner & manager, head of the water board, a concerned African American citizen who attends every council meeting to "learn", and Caroline, me and the person we were honoring. Not a very large audience.
At exactly 5:30 P.M., the Mayor welcomed everybody to the meeting and then said a prayer. I didn't know they opened their meetings with a prayer. I was impressed. Next he welcomed visitors and asked me to introduce my guest, Caroline. They all welcomed her to Elba. She liked being recognized.
The order of business was very routine with the Mayor asking the Police Chief for a report, which was not very detailed. Then the Mayor telling them about expenses, revenues, bills to be paid and a list for them to review before paying the bills.
He then recognized me and I stood before the group and explained why I was there and asked my guest Mr. Charlie Walker to please stand with me at the front of the room. I told the council members of how Mr. Walker had helped with the bricks needed for the completion of phase 2 of the playground; total number of old high school bricks used in the project and how many of those he donated, and I then presented him with a check for $899 from the Kiwanis Club (which was a donation to the city to pay for the bricks and they in turn gave me the money to present to Mr. Walker). I thought the public should know where the bricks came from and of his generosity. The newspaper editor took a picture of the presentation for the Elba Clipper this week.
The meeting adjourned at 6 P.M.. and several stopped to talk to Caroline to ask where she was from, etc. and welcomed her to Elba. In turn, we went with the Radio Station Manager (owner) to tour the playground and new buildings. He had never taken time to check it out and it was built in 2006!!! He plans to talk about it on his morning program at 6:30 A.M.. and encourage people go check it out.
Caroline's comments: How boring! I didn't have a clue as to what they were talking about! The Mayor just read something, the clerk called the roll and they all said "I do" (agree). She wanted to know why they had all men at the meeting. Didn't they allow women to have a part?
(young people are beginning to notice these things, YEAH)
She said, "Grandma, you were the only person who said anything meaningful!"
