The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
By Bill Connell.
The passing of legendary Board of Education member and president Eva Nagy put me in a reflective mood. I am slowly fading into the woodwork, but when she was president you could not turn a corner without seeing my ugly mug. I was an avid supporter of the Middle School theater program and an antagonist ( I like to think observer), of both the BOE and Township Council. My daughter once said, “when I tell people you are my dad, it’s always a mixed reaction.” All I could do was shrug my shoulders, and say “sorry for that.”
It was in this time period that I solidified my opinion about leadership. We are just caretakers. There is a difference between a leader and an advocate. Mayor Phil Kramer is our best current example of this. He started out as an antagonist /advocate on the public side and eventually ran for office. He took on the air of the office looking at the whole picture not just what topic was on his mind. It’s not an easy thing to do.
I am just one person so I cannot measure Mrs. Nagy’s’ work, but I can speak a little about mine. Schools by their nature are turbulent things. The kids and teachers change year to year. PTOs reflect this. One parent moves up and out and hopefully a new person comes in. You train the new people and pass the baton. As a parent set building coordinator, I should have left after four years but stayed for 16. Kids I knew as fetuses became my helpers at the end of my run. I kept meeting new and interesting people. It was fun. Still, I had to ask myself each year, why am I here and am I still helping? My replacement the next year made a small but meaningful edit to the stage. I never saw it for 16 years. Yes, it was time for me to go.
On the political side of things, the Council gives out proclamations for all sorts of things.
I never thought about the line of importance until I saw a proclamation for a restaurant. It was basically a free advertisement. This is the same type of proclamation they gave to a police officer for savings a woman’s life. The free advertisement sort of turned the police officer’s proclamation into toilet paper. No one on Council put the brakes on it.
Last year at the same time a U.S. Senator was being indicted and the Democratic party was largely silent; the Governor was trying to shoehorn his wife into being the Senator’s replacement. No one said “Hey Gov Bud, this is not a good look”.
I am going to give Joe Danielsen a break in this letter. I usually bring him up in letters like this.
What is my point? Both parties need antagonists long before things become policy.
Watching the Executive Order warfare by both former President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump is unnerving and a sign of the lack of equilibrium.
On a local level Council and BOE pass policies all the time. More often than not the chambers are empty. These officials look out across a room and think no one is complaining so I guess we will pass it, even if one or two people have misgivings. You can only hope the caretakers are doing a good job.
By the way, budget hearings are coming up soon.
Be passionate but remember, you ain’t the jazz, you are just a buzz, some kind of temporary.
Rest in peace Eva, one of our caretakers.
Stay ‘In the Know,’ subscribe to the Franklin Reporter & Advocate!
No other media outlet covering Franklin Township brings you the depth of information presented by the Franklin Reporter & Advocate. Period. We are the only truly independent media serving the Eight Villages.
But we can only do that with your support. Please consider a yearly subscription to our online news site; at $37 a year, it’s one of the best investments you can make for yourself.
To subscribe, please click here.
