In a guest column, former Rye Mayor Joe Sack discusses the good, bad and ugly of being in the public eye, being Presidential, and his reaction to the the acrimony displayed at Wednesday’s Rye City Council meeting.
By Former Rye Mayor Joe Sack
I served on the City Council for 10 years. Rough estimate, I attended well over 30 public meetings a year, including regular meetings, special meetings, commission meetings, and meetings about meetings.
Some of those meetings were mercifully short, but others were interminably long. Sometimes the Goldilocks porridge was just right. But let’s say an average of 3 hours per meeting.
Back of the envelope, not even counting the countless hours of prep time, I easily spent a thousand hours under the glare of the TV lights.
But I exited stage left at the end of 2017. And after a decade on the dais, I literally have not since then watched a single second of a Council meeting, not even from the comfort of my couch at home. Except for last night. More on that in a moment.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not the political junkie I used to be, but I still enjoy hearing about the goings on around town from MyRye, or glancing at the Rye Record headlines, or picking up pieces of gossip while walking the dogs or sitting on the lacrosse sidelines.
Yet with regard to Council Chambers… It was fun to bask in that spotlight. But sometimes it felt like getting sizzled like an old hotdog under the heat lamp at a Seven Eleven.
So call it PTSD. But I think my body was telling me that it was time to recover from a serious case of sunburn.
Getting elected to local government – twice as a Councilman and a third time as mayor – was an honor and a privilege of a lifetime. With humility, I embraced my role as a public servant.
But sometimes, certain members of the public viewed me as their own personal servant. The job was not always as glamorous as it might have seemed.
Rye is filled to the brim with smart and successful and passionate folks. And what I came to learn is that on any given issue, half of these folks felt one way, and half felt the other way. And I would joke, another half felt a third way. If 51 percent were in favor of a proposal, that was a landslide.
It was at Council meetings that those who were moved most fiercely by the issue du jour would enter the arena. I always tremendously admired folks who had the courage to step up to the podium and share a piece of themselves, and subject themselves to scrutiny. It is quite a difficult and emotional thing to do.
Many attendees at Council meetings came loaded for bear. As mayor, before every meeting, I always felt it was important to briefly mingle and shake hands with those gathered and waiting, before I walked up out of the well to take my seat front and center.
In this way, I hoped to defuse the situation and remind everyone that we are all neighbors, and all humans.
Certainly, committed people showed up to advocate for various causes, and I too often held pointed views. But I also understood that the further role of the mayor and Council is to guide the discussion, to salve hurt feelings, and to work towards a compromise that works for as many as possible.
After being away from the Broadway lights for so long, I was surprised to have my views solicited this week on a proposed resolution, which attempts to prescribe the way for Councilmembers to interact with one another on official matters. It seems not all were playing nicely together in the sandbox.
In my best attempt to play elder statesman (and I do have many more grey hairs than I used to), I observed that you cannot legislate mutual trust and respect. Trying to write such rules is a symptom and not a fix of the problem.
I also expressed concern that the debate over such a resolution would only exacerbate ill feelings. And that the best course would be to set aside the resolution and work more productively towards broadening open channels of communication.
Desiring not to be seen as taking sides in a Council debate, I also offered to share my institutional perspective with other members of the Council sorority/fraternity. I suggested that drafting strict rules cannot be a replacement for the apparent breakdown in the more collegial way of conducting business, and that repairing the rift would be the hopeful course.
I concluded that during my long tenure on the Council, I was at turns on both sides of this equation. That both sides make good points. And that I was optimistic that there was room to quell strong feelings and come to a considerate understanding.
Having put that out into the Universe, I was curious enough, that I did something I had not done in over 6 years – I logged on to the City website and watched a replay of the last agenda item from Wednesday’s meeting, where the topic was discussed.
Dare I say, the debate was somewhat awkward and even cringeworthy at moments, and I felt a tad frustrated that I had virtually re-entered this vortex from my retirement.
However, I was most impressed by the comments of Councilman Cunningham, who cut through the posturing and made a plain and simple plea for civility.
Serving on the Council is hard work. And there are few if any perks. Not even a free bottle of water on the dais (to put out the flames?) as one of my former colleagues used to wryly lament.
As my mentor, the late great Judge Peter Lane used to teach me – at all times, “Be Presidential.” And while unfortunately the meaning of that phrase may be interpreted differently these days, I take the old-fashioned and traditional view.
So from one who used to be in the limelight, but who now spends his time with a good book by the reading lamp, I do not envy you, current mayor and Council. But I am grateful for what you do.
We will always have our differences, and not everyone will be happy. But heeding Judge Lane’s admonishment, I have faith that you will do it justly and fairly.
VIDEO: You can witness the acrimony from the Rye City Council meeting on March 6, 2024, Item 9. Resolution adopting rules for agenda setting and conducting business at council meetings:
