A plea for old times?

A friend of mine was at the Princeton Town Board meeting Monday
night. He made some strong allegations against the town board and the
town staff. I’m hurt by what he said.
I consider Elmer Capps a friend. I sought his help and advice recently
on a question and appreciated his counsel.
What hurt me was the attitude behind his comments. He assumed
that the town board was not concerned about him or the citizens of
Princeton.
After he concluded his remarks, he asked the board to excuse him as
he had to get back to babysit his granddaughter.
It would be easy to dismiss his comments
as grandstanding, but Mr. Capps is a man of
integrity and I don’t believe he would do that.
One could question his appearance the night
before the election, but I don’t think he was
trying to influence that. He wasn’t in front
of a bunch of voters, and news reports won’t
come out until long after most have voted.
I noticed he didn’t use any names. He did
not say this one or that one didn’t care. He did
say that the board didn’t care and the town
staff didn’t care. The only one he referred to
by name regarding the running of the town
was former mayor William Earl Ormond, and
that was in a positive context.
I’ve pondered his comments quite a bit
since he spoke them, because he said a lot of
hurtful things against people I also consider my friends. I think they very
definitely do care about people, and try to do the right thing for all of the
citizens of Princeton.
Why does Mr. Capps see things differently?
Mr. Capps is free to disagree with this, but I doubt that he sees Don
Rains and David Starling and Eddie Haddock as people who don’t care
about Princeton. Mr. Rains and Mr. Starling grew up in his church, and
he has known their parents for more years than they all care to remember.
I suspect the Haddocks were almost as close. I know if any of the
Capps needed anything and they called on the Rains, the Starlings or
the Haddocks, it would be there right away without question, and vice
versa.
He complained ironically about condemnations and said he felt an
owner was not treated fairly, but I think the “fair” treatment is exactly
what he is complaining about.
He also said that bigger is not always better.
I think what he was saying was he wanted to go back to the “good old
days” when things were usually settled by individuals dealing with individuals,
not by a town board which set in place regulations that determined
how people and problems would be handled through a staff.
I asked the town board to respond to Mr. Capps, even though he did not
want them to. They did listen to his complaints, and they even responded
positively to some, trying to hear and consider his side on points he tried
to make. (You can argue that Mr. Capps was trying to guilt the board into
seeing his side by accusing them of being uncaring, but again, I believe
Mr. Capps is above that.)
I heard a relevant comment about the issue of a county growth plan.
Many people are more comfortable button-holing someone and trying to
personally persuade them to their point of view. That’s been the way that
things have been done around here for a long time. They’d rather argue
that than a policy that is expected to be applied across the board.
Mr. Capps suggests that lots of things should be covered by taxes, and
he points to examples where they are not always. Town board members
are aware of that, and the town staff is as well. There is some grease to
get things done around town, it is not all cut and dried as to what regulations
say or don’t say.
The problem is, from my perspective, too many people ask for too
much. There has to be a line drawn, and it isn’t based on whether you
like someone or not, but what is fair to all. Maybe in a small town where
you know everyone and you trust most people, things are different, but
we aren’t in Kansas any more.
I may not like the answer I get, but I do believe this town board will
listen to my concerns and try to respond if they can.
No, it may not be William Earl assuring Elmer that whatever his concern
is, he will take care of it, but be assured the Rains and the Haddocks
and the Starlings and the Martins and the Suttons are still concerned
about Mr. Capps and the rest of the people of Princeton.
Based on the frustrations of Mr. Capps with this board, I encourage
the board to consider what they can do to improve their handling of
town business that will remove this perceived unfairness. They have a
responsibility to be clear and consistent in all the operations of the town
to that end.