Last year I wanted to go to a city council meeting, but it didn't work out for various reasons. This year I was determined to make it work. As I set off to go to the Provo City Municipal Council meeting, I had a lot of expectaions. I expected to exciting words like "zoning" and "taxes' etc. I expected it would not be a short meeting, nor an exciting one. I was wrong.
My roommate warned me to be careful not to catch the political bug. I was not worried about that at all.
As I arrived, I was surprised to see that there were a lot of people in attendance. Most notable were about 15 fireman... Not too shabby. There was a stand with several chairs with mics for each of the council members, just like I had been picturing in my mind.
The meeting began with a prayer and the pledge. Someone was a little emphatic saying the phrase "under God", he practically yelled it. That was my first clue that this was no ordinary meeting. The fireman then gave a presentation about the upcoming Fire Prevention Week, was very interesting and enlightening. Apparently 5 people have died in fires in Provo during the last 2 years.
After that presentation , the floor was open to the public. The first man was an older gentleman who was a bit confused. We couldn't understand him very well, but I heard something about homosexuals and a parade... then the moderator told him to talk into the mic, and I could hear him better. He began to talk about 2 signs of the second coming: the destruction of Abinidi and Sodam and Gamora, and that our society now is so accepting of things that were once illegal and immoral. I was shocked to be hearing about these things at a city council meeting. There were a lot of other people who talked about repealing the ban on beer sales on Sunday in Provo which was on the agenda for a later vote in the meeting. Some in favor of repealing the ordinance and several not. Lots of religious and moral comments, which again, I was surprised to hear at this meeting. After the public floor was closed, they moved on to 3 other things to vote on, and then to the biggie. Repealing the ban on beer sales on Sunday. They asked if anyone else wanted to comment on it. One man, Howard, who already commented earlier stood up again. The moderator told him he had alread had his turn to speak on the subject. Howard said no he hadn't, but the moderator said the council had already heard from him. Howard continued to argue saying he spoke when the floor was open to the public and not when they asked about the ordinance specifically. The moderator got pretty angry and told Howard to please sit down. Howard was not happy and walked away from the podium asking other people to make their comments to the council as well. The comments went on for about 20 minutes. people were talking about freedom, about what makes our city unique... etc. In the end. the council voted to repeal the ban and adjourned.
While I did not catch the political bug, the meeting was extremely interesting. I think I picked the best week to attend and I think that other meetings would only go down from this one.
If you have never attended a city council meeting before, I recommend checking it out. You never know what drama may be there.
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