Most of us have had that defining moment when we made a choice to do the right thing. For some of us it annealed our character and made us stronger and we puffed out our chests and felt pretty self righteous.
For others it was a quiet, simple knowing. A moment of reflection that made us hesitate at the proverbial fork in the road. And in that moment, we chose the honorable road, and went quietly about our business.
The hard part is choosing to do the right thing when absolutely no one but you and your God are looking.
And harder still, choosing to do the right thing when everyone is watching and hoping you won't.
Case in point:
Back when the sidewalk project began, it was necessary to get easements from various people and businesses.
One such easement was for the Runciman property.
The then DDA was assured by your then Village Manager that all easements had been procured and that the project could move ahead.
Now we know that that wasn't exactly true.
There was a backdoor handshake deal between the Village Manager and Mr. Runciman. Mr. Runciman was made certain promises. Promises that not surprisingly, were never kept.
Now you may say, well, Mr. Runciman should have gotten those promises in writing.
Maybe he should have - but hindsight is always 20/20, and we have all trusted people who didn't deserve that trust, often to our own detriment.
Either way, the end result is that Mr. Runciman lost his driveway and his property is landlocked.
We know that we drive by and look at that abandoned service station and groan. It looks horrible, and we all wish someone would just do something with it.
But lets be realistic - would any potential buyer plunk down his money for a property that has no access to the road? We think not.
The DDA, in a continuing effort to clean up messes and put out fires created by former Village employees and council members, has decided to the right thing - with everyone looking and in the plain harsh light of day.
They are giving Mr. Runciman back his driveway at their cost.
We can hear that chorus of "why's" from the gallery; we can almost see the shaking of fists. Self righteous indignation at the thought of righting a past wrong that the wronged party may have played a part in.
Guess what?
Sometimes it is necessary to do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do.
What we are watching here is a government body stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility for something they could just as easily ignore. They could claim, and rightly so, that they had nothing to do with the current Runciman situation, and he can go on ahead and take his chances in court.
But they won't.
They aren't.
And that's because this is one of those character-defining moments that happen to all of us.
Some of us pass this test - others fail - and normally not with an audience.
We are proud to say that this test was passed, and with flying colors, by the DDA.
You aced it.
Puff your collective chests out a little - you deserve it.
Ah yes, “doing the right thing”. It appears we have someone that truly believes in what they are writing. Explaining to us all about those epiphany’s we sometimes experience, those moments of clarity that guide us to the righteous side of things.
ReplyDeleteThe SDDA (Stockbridge Downtown Development ) is the group of people that determine and execute projects to better our community financed through taxes. They have a chair and members of business in our community that over see the projects they decide. They have an attorney to guide them through the legal aspects of the projects they are involved with.
Now, are we to believe with the experience of the DDA, the countless years of law school that one person with out even a college education fooled everyone including the property owner into land locking his own property? WOW!
Don’t get the wrong idea here, I believe the right thing should be done and a driveway returned, but I also believe the folks in the community need to take a little closer look at what really happened and remember “when pointing fingers there are usually 3 fingers pointing back”.
The history has been to pay out and sweep the rest under the rug. Haven’t we had enough of that?
This community will never recover without addressing all of problem. We are almost out of band aids.
Because the former manager held all the power, (or pulled the strings more accurately) things that never should have happened DID happen. Was the DDA attorney left out of the loop? Hell yes. Did he draw up the easement that says Runciman's property will be restored after the sidewalk is complete? Yep - and he did that at the managers request. And the was the project engineer instructed to rip out Runcimans driveway by the former manager? Damn straight. So, feeling pretty confident about pointing these fingers, and just as confident about the ones pointing back.
ReplyDeleteSometimes people pass the buck because it isn't theirs to keep....I'm just saying... :)
ReplyDeleteStill think we are missing something. I'm just saying.
ReplyDeleteThe village is bankrupt. Not one election promise completed. And yet another negative tirade. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteGo into the Village office, ask the treasurer to show you the balance sheets for each August starting in 2006, you'll see who spent the money and who put us in this position. Look for the truth yourself instead of blaming the current crew. They (the current council) have a huge mess to clean up, they knew it before they ran for office, they've vowed to clean it up and that's exactly what they're doing. Enough said.
ReplyDeleteHow is pointing out that one of those past wrongs is being addressed and fixed a 'negative tirade'? On the contrary. This is a sign that things are finally being done on the up and up.
ReplyDeleteIt takes a better man to right someone elses wrongs for the sake of doing the right thing. What kind of man makes these kinds of messes and never accepts responsibility? Well, we know the answer to that, don't we?
No increase in taxes, that's good enough for my house hold.
ReplyDeleteStill look deeper into this drive way issue. There is more then you are being told.
ReplyDeleteyou simply cannot choose not to replace a driveway that had been in existence for many years just because you think a "handshake" deal was made. The former village manager had the full consent of the council even when they knew a lot of village residents were against their decisions. Let's start doing the right thing and get past the past. We'll be better for doing it.
ReplyDeletekudos to the writer of this column. Let's all keep our eye on the ball. I love this blog!
ReplyDeleteYep, no new taxes...Great...did anyone see the new water rates???
ReplyDeleteYep the new water rates.... Just one more mess the new Council had to fix. This was not an easy decision for them to make, Im sure. Did someone forget that a CD was cashed in to pad the general fund. Talk about BS.....
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine the current council members reaction if Dan Dancer had suggested selling the old village office instead of cashing a CD to ensure that the village employees were paid. Or if he had suggeted raising the water and sewage rates WITHOUT A PUBLIC HEARING.
ReplyDeleteBTW - anither empty building downtown thanks to the sdda not helping the new business with rent because it wasnt a new business in their terms. more empty buildings, but hey, great parking lots. puff those chests out!
According to the Village Ordinances, no public hearing was required to raise water and sewer rates. This was discussed at a PUBLIC MEETING, which perhaps you should have attended. The SDDA MUST abide by the rules regarding the Incubator Program. If that program hadn't been abused/used to line pockets it might even still be in existance. And maybe if the new business was open more than twice a week, it would still be there. It was cranking today as a lawn sale...what does THAT tell you?
ReplyDeleteHow could you think Mr. Runciman was dupped into a back door hand shake deal. Anyone who ever has had a business dealing with him, knows that he is very shrewed and knows how to come out on top. Before we spend all the money to right the past we should ask qustions. You could look at the construction easment,talk to the SDDA lawyer,talk to SDDA members that where on the board then, have the courage to ask Dan Dancer what happened, or just pay for it and blame the puppet master Dan Dancer.
ReplyDeleteregarding the Stockbridge Resident (really?) comment - the successful yard sale tells us that strangers driving by are more supportive than the downtown DEVELOPMENT authority.
ReplyDeleteStockbridgfe resident - I work two jobs in order to suppoert my wife and kids and pay my village bills and am unable to attend all the village meetings. I do, howeer, get on line to look at the minutes and agendas. A raise in water and swer rates was not on record as being discussed before that last meeting and the agenda for taht meeting said just a resolution. it didnt say anything about raising the rates. If it had said the rates wre going to be raised im pretty damn sure a lot of people would have showed up including me.
ReplyDeleteNo it tells us that being open for business would be helpful.
ReplyDeleteWhoa there buddy sounds like you think the village might be a little transparent. They campaigned that they would'nt be that that way.
ReplyDeleteEveryone needs to stop complaining and step up to the plate!!! You want things right or have a say in something, then support the village by showing up to the meetings!! Everyone has nothing to complain about until things don't go the way "they" think it should. I think the current council is doing the best they can with what they have. And the residents need to realize that! Remember they were left with a mess and they have to not only clean up the mess but take the BS from residents because they are trying to fix things. This town has gone downhill because some of the residents just complain and complain, and complain.......Instead of complaining, ask what you can do to help!!!!
ReplyDeleteI would say the new village board has done more to make the village look a mess more than any other group. They have forgot about code enforcment, but they sure can't forget about the past group, because they allways want to blame them for everything they don't have an answer too.
ReplyDeleteFact: The past council, under the direction of the former village manager, spent the Village into the poor house.
ReplyDeleteFact: Current budget woes are tied directly to the past spending practices of the former council.
Fact: The former village manager created then passed a resolution to cash in water and sewer CD's to make payroll and pay bills in September of 2010.
Fact: The new council will be dealing with the fallout of these spending practices for years to come.
Fact: Stockbridge wasn't built in a day - in won't be rebuilt in a day either.
Wow hit a nerve there now didn't I. Know that we got that out of the way, explain to me with facts why they adopted his budget,the budget woes tied to that, yes he did borrow from one fund, but there is a plan to pay it back,and like I said before there you go again blaming Danny Dancer.
ReplyDeleteJesus Gary - go write on your own blog.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute I thought we were all anonymous.
ReplyDeleteAll comments are anonymous. We don't know the identity of authors of comments.
ReplyDeleteWe have no control, however, of posters guessing at others identities. (But do find them amusing.)
Rest assured, your Secret Identities are safe with us.
Just maybe not from each other.
The Citizen-Herald
So what your saying is what?
ReplyDeleteWhat we are saying is this:
ReplyDeleteWE don't know who the commentors are.
But it looks as if some commentors are guessing at other commentors identities. (is there even such a word as commentors? maybe it's commentators)
WE don't care WHO you are.
You wanna put your name on a comment, that's fine.
You wanna comment anonymously, that's fine.
But WE have NO CONTROL over people guessing at the identities behind the anonymous comments.
We can't imagine that people reading these comments haven't tried to guess at who was writing what. Hell, we've been called out on a couple of occasions to reveal our identities.
All part of the fun and games folks.
But guessing is just that - guessing.
Unless you specify who you are, no one, not even us, will ever know who you are.
We hope this clears it all up for you.
S.C.H.
well if you think you can do a better job, then do it! i don't care who is on the council because they would be in the same boat! Everyone just needs to stop their bitching and grow up!!!!! You are acting like a bunch of 2 year olds because you are not getting your way and people are not getting away with anything like they did in the past! The facts are plain as day!!!!! Start going to meetings if you want to see the truth!!!
ReplyDeleteI went to meetings led by the new council and all I heard were LIES, LIES, and more LIES. With a generous dose of blame shifting.
ReplyDeleteWhat meeting were you at? Or are your ears full of wax? EVERYTHING this council is facing or has faced has the prior council and it's leadership written all over it. Again, go look at the balance sheets starting in 2006 - you'll see who spent the money and put us in this mess.
ReplyDelete