Uneventful meetings aren’t a bad thing

Monday morning’s Madison County Commission meeting was one that should bring plenty of hope to anyone needing any for the local area.

Teresa McSweeney discussed what Jackson-Madison County Schools plans to do with $10 million in grant money for technological innovations in different places in the district.

The Greater Jackson Chamber’s Kyle Spurgeon and Ryan Porter discussed the potential for Madison County to prosper from the coming arrival of Blue Oval City to Haywood County and how much tax revenue that can bring and the benefits from that if the county prepares well and recruits a significant portion of the workforce to live in and around Jackson.

Jackson Tourism Director Lori Nunnery discussed continuing upward trends of her organization’s efforts and how hotels and motels in the area continue to bring in plenty of tax revenue.

Steve Smith, the director of McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport, spent some time discussing how things are looking up with the arrivals earlier this year of Southern Airways and TSA to the airport and what that means for increased traffic and ease of travel from Jackson to other places.

It was a nice meeting to watch. Nothing out of the ordinary happened. No unforeseen disagreement escalated into a public argument. No accusations. No shouting. No sounds of Chairman Gary Deaton banging his gavel like he’s working on the railroad to get calm a small raucous of noise building up among the Commissioners.

Which seemed fitting three days before Thanksgiving.

There are disagreements on the Commission, and those disagreements will garner debate, occasional shouting matches and lingering hard feelings between individuals.

But in the middle of all that, there’s a lot of potential throughout the area.

The Commission and JMCSS School Board got a new building for Pope Elementary approved this year, and that’s been something plaguing both entities for years – even decades.

So yes, sometimes the making the sausage that is the process of local government can be a harsh process to be a part of, but at least sometimes there are times to enjoy the sizzle and smell of sausage cooking in the skillet.

And that’s what this meeting was.

Even a plea from Commissioner Tony Black for other elected officials who are invited to public forums hosted by Commissioners in their districts was met with an understanding response before motions were made and seconded to dismiss.

Will there always be this kind of harmony on the Commission? No, and there won’t be as long as there’s more than one person serving on the Commission.

That kind of harmony isn’t even consistent in most healthy marriages.

But it’s a nice change of pace from the strife that’s been a part of many recent meetings that have been marred with heated discussions with the backdrop of tough budget conversations, election season and newly elected officials learning how things are designed to work in local government.

Meetings like this are few and far between, typically, so we need to enjoy them when they happen.

Brandon Shields is the editor of The Jackson Post. Contact him at brandon@jacksonpost.news, and follow him on Twitter @JSEditorBrandon and Instagram @editorbrandon.