With the Grayville boys’ basketball team playing in a postseason regional, Grayville Finance Commissioner Andi Ford served as Mayor Pro Tem in Travis Thompson’s absence Monday night. The Grayville Council soldiered on with the head coach and mayor absent. Additionally, Treasurer Sharon Walden was absent due to sickness and by the end of the 10-minute gathering, Grayville leadership was down a councilman.
Street Commissioner Chris James submitted his letter of resignation Monday night after accepting a position with Got Your Six, a non-profit out of Maryville, Illinois that trains and provides specialized service dogs to veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD or other trauma. James himself is a recipient of Got Your Six and he called it an opportunity of a lifetime. James also had a few words for whomever is appointed to his vacancy.
I hope that whoever replaces my position will carry on with helping improve the lives and helping the city grow. With that, I hope when the elections come up and any individuals that do want to run for council will remember it takes a team to run a town and there is never an “I” in team. Whoever is elected has to have big shoulders to be able to take criticism from everywhere. This is a thankless job and lots of citizens think when you are on the council that you can just change the world but there are rules that you have to govern by to run a city and be able to use the money that comes in to make the city operate. We live in southern Illinois and don’t always get the funding. We need to fix roads and sidewalks like we all want it to be. As a city, we’ve been lucky to get several grants and big projects done to help improve our infrastructure. I also would ask citizens when you see a councilman’s family or even employees and their families that they are at work or just out in the city and to please respect them because they don’t control what’s been voted on and what has happened. Everyone has the First Amendment but please think about what you post and say because you may not always know what is going on behind the scenes and how things have to be handled. We all have rules we have to follow. I thank you all who have supported me and who I served with on the council and wish you all the best.
Council members Don Baldwin, Scott Browning, and Ford all thanked James for his service. He began serving on the council nearly 7 years ago on May 1, 2019.
Council adjourned at 7:09pm and is due to meet next on March 9th.