BEAUMONT CITY COUNCIL MEETING

I arrived at 801 Main Street in Beaumont on October 9, 2001. I had relatively little trouble finding the building. The place where the meeting took occurred was located on the first floor, the first door on the left. I asked a couple of maintenance employees and they helped me finding where the meeting was.

I entered the room where the meeting took place. I decided to sit down and there were many seats to choose from. I chose to sit in the fourth row on the right side in the first seat. The first side of the audience to fill up was, the side opposite of me, the left side. Sitting in front of me were three sweet old ladies. One of the first things I noticed was the presence of the media. The channel twelve cameraman was setting up his equipment and was talking to a person sitting in the audience. Channel six news was the next person of the media to make an appearance.

I noticed that on all the audience seats were information sheets. The information included a copy of the agenda. The agenda made it easy to keep up with all of what was going on. The first three council members to arrive were:

Mr. Cokinos- Council Member, At Large

Mr. Nichols- City Attorney

Becky Ames- Council member, At Large

Everyone that was in attendance was nice and pleasant. People were talking about everyday things. I was one of very few young people in attendance, but I felt completely comfortable. I decided to not speak at the meeting for I had nothing that came to mind, plus I'm not a Beaumont resident.

Also, everyone waited a solid thirty minutes in my estimation because a couple of the council members were late in arriving to the city council meeting. All the council members seemed pleasant. Mr. Samuel even greeted two children who were seated in the audience and made small talk. He was actually talking to one of the guests, Caroline Manley, who said a word during the meeting. The Mayor Pro Tem, Guy N. Goodson, was sitting in for Mayor David Moore while everyone waited for the mayor and another council member to get back from the Ben and Julie Rodgers Gift of Life Program. Due to the amount of time it was taking for the missing council members to return, the council members decided that they should get the meeting started without the them.

Even though the council members were mostly pleasant some need a little more eloquence in getting there point across. At a few instances one council member in particular was acting a little irritated and it was noticeable not just to me.

Everyone stood for the opening of the meeting. The opening involves a prayer and then the Pledge of Allegiance. So to get the meeting started a minister approached the podium and said a brief prayer. The prayer involved good intentions and success for America. After the prayer, everyone remained standing and turned there bodies and eyes towards the United States flag. As a child one doesn't understand completely what they're saying or what it means, but when I said the words of the Pledge of Allegiance I had a mist in my eyes. I love America.

Roll call was taken and the agenda items were stated one by one. Proclamations were the next part of the meeting. Fire Prevention Week Proclamation was the first and Mr. Cokinos gave the proclamation. Fire Chief Bertrand approached the podium and stated a few facts such as the fire related programs will touch three thousand children this year. Chief Bertrand asked for the Manely family to approach the podium. Caroline Manely was the person who was most needed to be at the podium. Caroline Manely is a little seven year old girl who has been battling Leukemia and she was given the title of Honorary Fire Chief. Caroline's only words were "Thank you". Everyone in the group left promptly and pleasantly. Becky Ames spoke next about the Chambers of Commerce. She gave praise to the Chambers of Commerce. October twenty second thorough twenty six was allotted for Chambers of Commerce appreciation.

Only one lady got up to speak when the time for citizen input came around. The lady was around in her fifties, and was very cordial and nice. She did not speak on any particular issue that was on the agenda, instead she decided to use her time as a speech. In essence, she said, "God bless America," and everyone else present at the meeting.

Agenda items were up next. All agenda items were passed but one. The first item had actually came up in a previous meeting that was a few weeks ago. A Mr. Hall wanted to have a permit to have private swimming lessons at his residence. He wasn't present so the council decided to drop his request. Also, he decided that he couldn't reconcile with his neighbor's concerns. All of the rest of the agenda items were passed. Agenda item number five had my attention. A council member mentioned when last Beaumont purchased buses. Another member asked about the size of the buses. The fact was stated that once the bus is on the road the cost of the buses are basically the same.

After the meeting was over I went over to Mayor David Moore to get his signature on my copying of the agenda. He asked if I was a certain person that he had been trying to get in touch with that left a message, but I said, "No, sorry." Also, he was nice enough to allow me to take his photograph.

I think that the experience in a whole was a personal success. Knowledge was gained and another notch was gained in my experience category. I am more likely to be interested in local government meeting and functions.    

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