Going with the flow

I attended this morning’s special board meeting, where the board went through an unsorted list of issues to establish priorities for 2008. The experience was familiar, because of having watched previous meetings on the web.

Several things strike me after 8 or 9 hours’ exposure to the current board. It is very collegial. I’ve seen only a couple disagreements, which were brought up with humor. More than I’d expect, there is a lot of talking about talking. I would have approached this morning’s list (it’s the attachment on page 3 of this PDF) either by putting the items in true order of priority, or by deciding which items were easiest and quickest to accomplish. Instead, the directors took turns talking about each item, with the implication that they were all to be accomplished in 2008. And certainly, they are all important issues, but I didn’t leave the meeting with a clear idea of the board’s priorities for this year.

Melanie Schrader, who is running for District 5, sat next to me for the first half of the meeting. It was great to meet her, and I look forward to working closely with her in this campaign.

Afterward, I introduced myself to everyone on the board, except for Directors Wilson and Sanchez, who left before I could get to them.

I have 30 signatures now, and a ballot statement I’m pretty pleased with. Tomorrow I’ll file my papers, to avoid the rush.