Last night was my last City Council meeting of my first year in office. It was a longer meeting than usual, having a lot of votes on budgets and issues that we’ve been working on over the last couple months. And with all ‘lasts’, I tend to get reflective as I think forward to the next year’s ‘firsts’. This is a City Council that will work together for a minimum of 2 more years as a whole unit, due to the change in election years from odd to even. That is a unique phenomenon. This is the first City Council that has more women than men. And more to the real point, it is 9 unique individuals working for the same purpose. Do we agree all the time? Certainly not. Do we get passionate about our beliefs of what is the correct way to govern? Certainly. I would expect nothing less. What I do expect, however, is that we focus on goals, and work together, discuss together, ask questions together, professionally. And that’s what we do. Have City Councils always done that? Not so much. And that is what brings me back to my reflections over City Council over my first year. Each is unique and brings different viewpoints and talents to the table, and I am very grateful and appreciative for that. Having a year under my belt, I am looking forward to more respectful and thoughtful discussions about our City. It really is a great time to be the Mayor, and I continue to be profoundly grateful.