I attended the Maricopa City Council pubic meeting tonight. It went well over all. The first section was a call to the public. A couple of people stood up, including a fire fighter representative offering a 5% pay cut to alleviate a small amount of fiscal pressure. Marty McDonald was recognized my five Maricopa public library staff members. For those who don’t know, he was laid off by the city due to economic constraints, something I think they will regret in the years to come.

There were two zoning hearings, to convert residential zoning to commercial zoning. While the city approved both hearings, I find it lame and inefficient to bother the city council as many times as these hearings did (due to the city’s own methods).

A $70k measure to decoratively landscape several medians was approved again, allegedly approved two years ago, although the latter approval was mentioned in passing.

The library was approved to spend $24k on a theft deterrent system. That seems crazy. How long would it take thieves to steal $24,000 worth of books from a small town library? Without further research, that seems like a crazy amount of money.

Finally, the new benefits package was approved. On a side note, I find it disgusting how a small group of people approve what kind of medical, dental, and vision coverage employees receive. That does not only apply to government organizations, but it was made public to me today.