It was a quiet week last evening in Council Chambers, so ear-poundingly noiseless, so interminably lengthy that several hours felt like seven days invested with Garrison Keillor in mythical Lake Woebegone.
The second half of the budget study doubleheader threatened to out-dry opening night – and for those who have avoided City Hall this week, the budget is due to be approved by the City Council at Monday’s 7 o’clock meeting.
Council members were not sure whether to be grateful or disappointed that they were not subjected to heat from anyone in the sparse audience.
Undistracted crowd-watchers reported two holdover audience members from Monday, who may or may not have gone home during the 21-20½-hour interim.
Council members posed scattered questions for department directors summarizing their financial plans for the fiscal year that starts on July 1.
Echoing a plea made here last week by Cultural Affairs Commissioner Marla Koosed, about a half-dozen persons pleaded for the Council “to restore (staffer) Christine Byers to fulltime Cultural Affairs status” a year after her hours were sharply trimmed as part of an austerity agenda.
Two City Council members, Vice Mayor Meghan Sahli Wells and immediate past Mayor Andy Weissman, huddled on this subject before the meeting.
They agreed that the request for Ms. Byers’s restoration would be considered in the context of the preparation of next year's budget, not this year’s.
