County Watch
By G. L. Penney

 After almost a year now as a county legislator, I must report that my progress has been very little. The most that I can say is that the legislators are beginning to show some willingness to decide the issues at hand, whereas previously I often heard one or another of them declare that he intended not to "micro-manage the department heads."

 However, I still feel shackled by the many procedures that seem to me designed to prevent open public discussion. For example, in a work session not long ago we arrived at a consensus that a given resolution ought not to be adopted. The procedure used to defeat it was to table the resolution at the next regular meeting, then to untable it at a following regular meeting and then to move that the resolution be withdrawn. What do you suppose General Robert would have thought of that?

 Next year I hope to report better progress. May I wish you a happy new year.