Monday’s City Council Meeting – 3-23-26

Before commenting on the Council meeting I need to tell you a bit about my mother-in-law for this to make sense.

She was a Jackson, Mississippi girl, an Ole Miss graduate, belonging to the Chi Omega sorority. As she grew older, her southern accent became more pronounced. Put these things together and you know a lot about her already. Her name….Jane Gaddis Houghtlin

By the time I met her, I was a freshman in high school and dating the oldest of her four sons. Those boys all said, “Yes, ma’am” and “No, ma’am.”

Bob did his mother proud. He was second summa cum laude in his high school ETHS class of 650, a Princeton graduate, with a career at Leo Burnett Advertising Company in Chicago, eventually becoming one of their five vice presidents.

Jane was tall and tottered around on high-heeled shoes. She wore sheath dresses that accented her thinness. She was as smart as any of today’s AI platforms.

And she told wonderful stories.

At fifteen, I learned from her an old-time finger game you play on a child’s back.

“Hickama, Hakama, Cranie-crow… how many fingers do I show?”

“Two,” he said.

But four it was.

“Hickama, Hakama, Cranie-crow…” You keep repeating the verse as you play, changing the fingers you slightly press on a child’s back.

A few years ago, I played that same game for the first time on the backs of two of her delighted great-grandsons. I hope she would be pleased that I remember such things and more about her.

I wanted you to have a feel for Granny Jane before I go on. This blog is not only dedicated to her, but because it suits my purposes today, I want to apply one of her saying to Rocky Mount.

“Take it easy, greasy… you got a long way to slide.” (Add a slow southern drawl)

On Monday night, 3-23-26, the City Council met for three and a half hours.

The room was full, the tone serious, the subject unavoidable, the findings of the state audit with those ramifications and consequences, were THE topic.

For those who sat through it, or watched from home as I did, there were public comments that clearly showed recognition …….

What has happened did not happen overnight. The problems we are now naming have been forming for some time. Those decisions, some made, some avoided, have carried us to this place.

And, without a change in direction, there is still more sliding to come.

Granny Jane’s words were usually said with a bit of mischief, even affection. “Take it easy, greasy… is a line that makes you smile when you first hear it. But I offer it here as a warning.

Underneath this bit of fun there is a truth.

Sliding begins when you ignore the first sign.
When the warning feels small enough to dismiss.
When you assume there is still time. All of this has taken place.

What we heard Monday night was about more than the financial crisis. It was about the language the audit used: a lack of leadership and oversight.

It was about the responsibility that comes when entrusted with the care of a city. A city, like a family, like a business, like a life, does not hold its course by accident.

It holds because someone is paying attention.
Because someone is willing to ask the harder question.
Because someone is willing to say, not later, but now, “This is not right.”

Without new leadership, and a new direction, there is still a long way we could slide.

I have been writing about changing the way we vote from a ward-based to city-wide elections. Even if this is part of the answer for Rocky Mount, we are living ‘in the mean time.’ What is to be done?

You can add a thought or two in the comments for this post with your wisdom on the matter. I hope you will. SFH