Chapter 12: Chapter 12

City Hall, the building where the city council met, was built in the 1940s. Though it was evident the interior had been redone a few decades after that, as Brady sat beneath a flickering fluorescent light that refused to fully commit to its job, he had to wonder why Mayor Jenkins, who sat at the head of the oblong table, would rather spend the city’s budget on a parking garage he didn’t see the need for than a million other items--including the refurbishment of the building they were sitting in now.

The rest of the board members seemed complacent with the way things currently were. Four men and one woman, one other woman absent, all of them older than Brady, all of them professionals of one sort or another, though two of the men had retired from their other careers, he could tell they hadn’t been particularly happy to be called in to meet with Mayor Jenkins on a Monday afternoon, but the mayor was so keen on getting things going with his pet project, he’d asked them all to come and meet with Brady as soon as he was sure the new city planner had had an opportunity to tentatively go over the budget and look at expenditures.

“Well, Mr. Rogers,” Mayor Jenkins said, leaning back in his chair as he moved it slowly from side to side. “Why don’t you tell the council what you’ve discovered?”

Brady cleared his throat, knowing what he was about to say was not going to be welcomed, at least not by the mayor. “Before I tell you my thoughts on the parking complex, I do have a few other questions.” Brady looked through the papers in front of him, finding the list of other items he thought should come before the parking garage. He had his laptop up and open, but he had figured out pretty quickly that the WiFi here was not reliable, so he should always bring paper copies of everything he would need. Now, as the signal flickered on and off, he was glad he had.

“What other questions?” Bob Haskins, one of the retired members of the board asked, a little annoyed. He had been one of the members who had voted against Brady’s confirmation and hadn’t kept it a secret.

“Well, there are some other budgetary considerations. I need some background information as to why these entities have not been given the attention it seems they deserve.”

Most of the council members exchanged glances. The only one that didn’t was the youngest board member, Stanley Ditches, who was too busy looking at his phone. Brady assumed he must have 5G because that was the only way he could imagine the man had a signal. He seemed completely out of touch and unengaged.

“What are you talking about?” Martha Davis asked, her tone conveying annoyance more than confusion. “What items would those be?”

“There are several,” Brady said, undeterred by their attitudes. He hadn’t expected this job to be easy, after all. “For example, the Christmas festivities. I haven’t been in town long, but my understanding is that Christmas used to be a special time here in Holiday Hills. Now, it seems to be more of an afterthought.”

“There’s no money,” Mayor Jenkins chimed in quickly. “Since the factory closed, the tax revenue the city collects has gone down by over thirty-eight percent. While the Christmas activities were nice, they cost money, money that didn’t generate any income. Hence, Dad--I mean the first Mayor Jenkins--cut them from the budget.”

Brady looked around the table, trying to get a feel for how the others felt about the shift in Christmas celebrations before he spoke. It seemed most of them agreed that the Christmas activities were an easy cut to justify. Brady thought otherwise. “But they could do a lot to generate income for the city.”

Scoffing, Bob asked, “How so? Ornaments cost money. They don’t make it.”

“They do if they bring people in from other towns,” Brady reminded him. “If we can get shoppers to come back to Holiday Hills to do their Christmas shopping, there will be more money for these other items--like repaving existing parking lots, adjusting the hours of the senior citizen center and the library, and adding staff to the animal shelter--just to name a few.”

“The animal shelter?” That had caught Mayor Jenkins’s attention. “Mr. Rogers, with all due respect, we have human concerns here in Holiday Hills. We have to worry about the people before we concern ourselves with discarded animals.”

His comment seemed to strike a chord with the other retired gentlemen, Harry Green. “Animals are quite important to many of our citizens, Mayor Jenkins. I agree. That animal shelter is… a travesty. While it’s wonderful what the Snow girl has done to make it into a no-kill shelter, we’ve done nothing but cut the budget over the years, and she’s just hanging on by a thread. We do need to do something about the animal shelter.”

“And the senior citizens center,” Kent Price, one of Brady’s supporters, added. “My mom is getting on in years. It would be great if she had some place to go during the day, other than just sitting at home, but the center is hardly ever open, and when it is, the activities are not what they could be.”

“I agree,” Bob said, which surprised Brady. He hadn’t expected Bob to agree with anything he had to say. “We definitely need to see about changing the hours at the senior citizens center and giving our older folks more to do. Won’t be long until I’ll be looking for something like that myself.”

The conversation took on a life of its own as everyone put in their two cents about the current state of affairs. Even Stanley was pulled away from his phone to add a comment or two, especially when the discussion returned to the former Christmas celebrations. He said he remembered what it was like attending the Christmas tree lighting ceremony each year and how badly he missed it. He wished he could take his children there. Brady sat back and listened, realizing that the board members really had no idea just how many changes needed to be made to the expenditures. He wondered what it was they usually discussed at their meetings. Perhaps they only talked about items as they came up on the agenda for formal meetings. Since this wasn’t an official meeting where they’d be casting votes, they could talk about anything they wanted to, and the topic ebbed and flowed to many subjects, covering many that were on his list but not all of them.

Mayor Jenkins allowed them to talk for almost an hour before he finally interjected. “All right, folks, I think we’ve all had an opportunity to say what we wanted to say. But now, I’d like to finally get back to the topic we came here to discuss. The parking garage. Regardless of these other concerns, I think we can all agree that it is imperative we put a parking garage in where public parking lot 6 is now situated. Brady, isn’t that what you found in the study you did this weekend as well?”

Brady’s eyes widened. Why had the mayor assumed he was under the impression that they needed a new parking garage? Jenkins clearly thought that was the most important expenditure to consider. Brady had hoped to discover why as the conversation unfolded, but even after all of that, he still had no idea. So… all he could do was tell Mayor Jenkins the truth. “I’m afraid I must be lacking some information, sir,” he began. “I just don’t see why a parking garage is necessary at the moment, not when there seems to be plenty of public parking to accommodate the amount of shoppers currently visiting the shops on the square on a daily basis.”

The mayor’s eyes bulged behind his glasses. “What’s that?” he asked through gritted teeth. “That’s funny, Brady. When we discussed this matter on Saturday, I thought for certain we were on the same page.”

Brady knew he was referring to the conversation they’d had at the parking lot when he’d reminded Brady that he’d been the deciding vote to give him this job. It was clear the mayor was hoping that would make him a yes man, but Brady had never been one to back down from his principles, no matter what. “Can you explain to me why you feel it’s necessary, Mayor Jenkins?”

“I’ve been asking the same thing for three months,” Martha said, shaking her head.

The mayor looked around the table and then back at Brady. He cleared his throat. “Perhaps you need some more time to study the numbers, Mr. Rogers. I’m sure you will see things my way as soon as you get a chance to do a little more research.”

Though he wasn’t completely sure, Brady thought there was a threat in the statement, not that he would accuse the mayor of threatening him in front of the rest of the council.

“Why don’t we all take some time to consider the topics we’ve discussed and meet again in a day or two?” Bob suggested.

Stanley groaned, but the rest of them all agreed, and he eventually shrugged his agreement because he couldn’t be the only one not to. Brady thanked the council for their time, glad that they were willing to talk about the matters at hand, and hurried to his office down the hall, hoping Mayor Jenkins wouldn’t follow.

Carrying his laptop and his notes, Brady rushed through the front office where the receptionist who answered the phones for him and a few other city employees had her desk. She smiled at him as he went by, and he muttered, “Good afternoon, Mrs. White,” hoping he could get to his office and back to work before Jenkins decided to hunt him down.

It didn’t work, though. He’d just got settled behind his new desk, which was still a little unfamiliar to him, when Mayor Jenkins walked into the room without knocking. It was evident by his expression he was unhappy. “Mr. Mayor?” Brady asked, bracing himself to be yelled at.

Jenkins didn’t yell, though. Instead, he just said, in a stern voice, “We need to get on the same page, Rogers. The parking garage goes up--or you come tumbling down.” With that, he turned on the heel of his loafer and stomped out, leaving Brady staring after him.