Tales from the BudComm - Starting with "hats off" - Granite Grok

Tales from the BudComm – Starting with “hats off”

BudgetAh yes, the budget season begins in earnest and the table was set early on by the new Chair (effectively installed by the four Progressives that the “school community” voted into office during our “second bad blizzard in a row on town election day”) Sean Murphy with his Agenda Item #1:

  1. Call the meeting to Order & Determination of a Quorum. Please have all electronic devices on vibrate or shut off, also have all hats off during the meeting.

I have to admit, for the first time in all the years he’s been on the board, this is the best dressed I’ve actually seen him – business casual shirt and dress slacks. I also have to admit, as a matter of habit, I always wear my GraniteGrok hat when out of the house (and at the urging of the Grandson who seems to have a thing for hats, sometimes inside as well). At the time I read it, the thought was “well, I’m pretty much the only one that constantly has article of dress on”; I will leave the rest of the thought as an exercise for the reader.  However, I forgot that another Conservative also wears a ball cap – a Navy one as he’s a Navy vet.

So, per usual, in saying the Pledge of Allegiance 

we all stood up, faced the flag, and the other guy and I took off our hats.  Said the Pledge (me with vigor!) and sat down.

And we both, without consulting each other, promptly put our hats back on. For the entire meeting.

I also immediately began tapping on my electronic device’s keyboard in trying to bring up various document – after all, I generally don’t deal with paper based information as I use my laptop constantly.  BTW, I’m the only one that does use a PC during a BudComm meeting and people notice, on the rare occasion it happens, when I don’t bring or use it. So take that as you will as well.

And not a word was said otherwise from the Chair.  Thus, you can either take his words (in the agenda item and he repeated them just before the Pledge as a “reminder”) or his actions (or lack thereof) anyway you want.  I’m taking them several different ways but I guess this was an Obama-esque Red Line moment.

I shall act accordingly.

To be sure, a small nitpicky kind of issue – but reference Rudy Guliani’s “broken window” to see where this may be going.

Next up in the Tales from the BudComm series –  “Micromanaging” as an Object Lesson (or put another way, failure to do one’s homework about the job you ran for and got elected to).

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