How about disincorporation?

It was great seeing the large group of Hughson residents that attended the Nov. 23 city council meeting. I believe it showed the city council that indeed our voters do care of what our council members do with their actions. I believe the high attendance could be attributed to many actions, including a group of concerned citizens who met in a private home a few days prior to the meeting. Anyway, the word got out about the sneaky items that the majority of the council was trying to pull. While at the council meeting I appreciated the comments from many of you that expressed a common thread, "I’ll bet you’re glad you are not on the council anymore."

During the public comment section, it became clear that the majority do not trust the words, the past deeds and the actions of those who were trying to get rid of the city manager. I was also thankful that the sheriff’s department was there to maintain order and I understand that after the meeting they were really needed and did their job in a professional manner.

This is not a column where I will allow my dog to interject his thoughts because of the seriousness of the subject. I do however want to emphasize the importance to our citizens to continue to attend future council meetings because many including myself do not trust the majority of the council. There are two subjects that I would like to discuss but I am not advocating at this time. There has been talk of recalling part of our city council. This action would be premature and expensive to reclaim the honor of Hughson, but we should think of it as a possibility if our elected officials cannot conduct themselves in a dignified and honest manner and if they cannot put aside their personal agendas.

They of course have another chance to decide about Mr. Donabed’s future. His contract ends in May. I am not sure if it is May 1 or May 31. However, there is another possibility that would prevent them from choosing the next city manager. It would require another vote of the citizenry and that would be a possible disannulment of the city charter and we would just be part of the county. Before you get all excited just allow the following thoughts to lay dormant. If we were county we would have the same post office, the same zip code, 95326, same electricity source (TID), same library, same "downtown Hughson," same fire department and people, same police protection-sheriff’s department, same ambulance service-Hughson Ambulance and Pro-Transport, same grocery supermarket (or lack thereof), the water delivery system would remain the same and the trash service would remain the same. We would have the same county supervisor who has done a good job. We would have the same animal control system and the same mosquito abatement people. The school system would not be involved and basically we would have the same old taxes. Since the city of Hughson does not appear on many maps anyway, no change would be required.

Salida is a lot larger area than the city of Hughson and yet they are not a city and everyone knows where Keyes, Denair, Hickman are without them being made a city. It is a thought that I bring forth because I have no idea what our present council will do in the upcoming months. We must keep ourselves informed. Hopefully the grand jury will add clarity. In the meantime we will not have a city council meeting until Dec. 14 (and you wondered what you had to be thankful for).

Because of the upcoming season, here is a thought....

IF YOU WANT to hear people say "Merry Christmas," why not visit a church instead of a store?

Drive carefully!