Admittedly it doesn’t take much to annoy me. In fact, if you were to say that my state of annoyance was the same as the ocean’s state of being wet, I couldn’t argue (I would, however, be annoyed by such a strained and clumsy comparison).
Friends’, enemies’, strangers’ observations aside it’s not that I enjoy being annoyed — it’s more a matter of there being so much to be annoyed by, especially when people are around and those people have power great or small.
Take, for example, Chula Vista’s mayor and City Council. A relatively light agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting suggested the gathering would be short and lacking depth. Fair enough. Representative democracy doesn’t always have to be long and boring. But it also needn’t be rushed.
On the docket was consideration of proposed changes to the city charter — its book of laws, if you will — by the Charter Review Commission. Among the proposals is a requirement the city attorney be a resident of Chula Vista. It is a silly, provincial and limiting idea, nevertheless it is one voters would decide on had the council taken steps to put the proposal on November’s ballot.
Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas observed the issue was a complex one and found the votes to table discussion on the issue until a joint workshop between the council and the commission could be had.
It was not an entirely unreasonable observation or request, although in doing so the issue probably now won’t go before voters this fall, meaning there will still be no residency requirement for the City Attorney’s Office. When the commission’s chairwoman made note of this her concerns were noted and, ultimately, she was dismissed.
But it wasn’t until Salas reminded her colleagues on the council that there was an appointment to be kept at police headquarters as part of National Night Out, urging them to keep their comments short so they could recess in time.
The admonishment came just as Councilman John McCann was about to speak. McCann, who has a habit of thanking everyone in the chamber before speaking and would probably thank the sun for shining if he thought it would win him populist praise, dutifully kept his remarks and his gratitude short.
I cheer for McCann about as often as I cheer for new Manchester United manager and sourpuss Jose Mourhino, but I found myself wishing McCann would carry on the way a souse does at closing time. Because here is the annoying pebble in my shoe: council persons are elected to legislate and govern a city. Their primary mandate is not to attend ribbon cuttings or community celebrations or galas that force them to rush through a meeting.
The proposed change requiring the city attorney live in Chula Vista won’t be on the November ballot. But you can be sure the next time the mayor or council has a photo op planned they’ll be on time.
