Council stepping up to lead?

Actions by several members of the Portland City Council at its most recent meeting deserve our praise.
The council, which has served largely in a background role over the past several years, came up with some hard but fair questions Monday evening.
Leading the way was Kent McClung, who was concerned over the fact that he and other council members were not included in discussions on a $6.6 million grant request the city is making through the state’s Stellar Communities program.
McClung said he believes the city should focus on other priorities such as separating combined sewers before committing more than $2 million in local cash and in-kind matching funds for the grant to construction of a daycare facility and improving the north side of the city with street and trail projects.
Agree or disagree, it’s exactly the kind of public discussion that should have taken place before the grant request was submitted about 10 days after the idea was first discussed by Mayor Randy Geesaman and Ami Huffman, Jay County Community Developer.
Also stepping up Monday were freshman councilman Mark Hedges and council president Bill Gibson.
Hedges, who has been insightful in his first three meetings on the council, raised legitimate concerns about the amount of compensatory time pay that is owed to city employees, while Gibson delayed a vote on a plan by the local emergency management agency until he and other members could review the proposed plan.
During his campaign, Geesaman said he hoped to foster a climate in which others — including the council — would step up into a leadership role.
We’re hopeful the actions of McClung, Hedges and Gibson are an early sign that the mayor’s wish is on the way to becoming reality. — M.S.[[In-content Ad]]