Rocky Mount Waits For Answers: Is City Council Willing To Shape What Comes Next

I have been thinking about how Rocky Mount’s City Council is viewed. Most people do not sort through who said what or who stood where. They see seven people, and they decide whether to trust them or not.

The public mood is far from positive concerning the Council. I’ve read comments that say, throw them all out, and I understand the frustration behind those words.

When a city feels unsettled, people begin to look at the leadership as a whole rather than as individuals trying to serve. Fair or not, the actions that trouble Rocky Mount have settled over the entire Council.

And yet, I believe there is another story waiting to be written.

Leadership can come from the majority of seven; steady voices deciding that the future of the city matters more than placating the few who act from self-interest.

Another way to say this is ….courage in public life shows forth the moment people entrusted with responsibility choose the good of the whole over the few.

I have been writing about changing the way we vote because I believe it offers a path toward shared accountability and renewed trust. City-wide voting could accomplish that.

One path is that the Council can adopt an ordinance or place a referendum before voters restoring citywide elections. This is a straightforward process.

Petitions are part of the second pathway to change. The stronger turning point for Rocky Mount would be one that begins from within the Council itself, a decision to lead change not because it was forced, but because it was right.

I believe the majority of the Council are worn to a frazzle from being criticized for the self-interests of the few. The ‘troubles’ that lay at the feet of the Council, which define them, can change.

If a majority of steady voices at the council table find the courage to adopt an ordinance or place a referendum on the ballet to change the way we vote, I am sure it would pass, aren’t you?