Mayor Jim Hammond, strikingly portrayed in this Rubik’s Cube mosaic, has the constant pressure that comes with being the mayor of the great city of Coeur d’Alene. He is pressured by others but always has to make the decisions he deems to be correct. In any position of leadership there are hard decisions to be made that can sometimes displease the general public. It is a constant balancing act between pleasing the public and doing what is best for the city. Earlier this year Jim Hammond contemplated a change allowing only citizens residing within the city limits can participate in the public comment. Sometimes time was wasted because the city can’t do much about what is outside city limits. Before citizens could make a case against the idea he removed it from the agenda. Since then we have endured a few unruly or comical perhaps disrespectful public comments at city council meetings. Some lament the past few sessions of public comment as unproductive because of this. However, most of the general public appreciates that public comment has remained open and does not require verbalization of one’s physical address. -NP
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