In a recent edition of the Southwest Wake News, Parrish Womble, who held a seat on the town council for 30 years, was interviewed. There was one quote attributed to him and a statement made by the reporter which got my attention:
Ham Womble seemed a little weary of the job himself. "I enjoyed it better a long time back", he said. There was less arguing, he said, and he fondly remembers group trips to a municipal conference in Washington, DC, when the entire board piled into his 1988 Chevrolet van.
I found the "arguing" reference quite interesting. As we know, arguments only take place when there is a difference of opinion. As this town grew, more people started moving in and offering different perspectives and various levels of experiences and, some may say, sophistications. As the town grew, these opinions, compared to older more antiquated thought here in Holly Springs, were what helped us get to this point today. I can tell you from experience, that new ideas and questioning of prior decisions were not always greeted positively by some of the "old guard" in Holly Springs. I remember attending meetings in 1996 and early 1997, when one former council member, a transplant from the Northeast and retired corporate techie, whose inciteful and critical questions were not always greeted with open arms!
The only real arguments that I recall during my service occurred when one or two council members, just a couple of years ago, tried to uncover some sort of non-existent wrongdoing in town hall. Needless to say, nothing was ever "uncovered". Some of these topics included Green Oaks Parkway, town hiring practices, ethics, employee vehicle allowances. These arguments were not bad things to argue about, after all, if all the council members embraced these witch hunts, the town would have lost a lot of credibility in my opinion.
Very often having some arguing and discord is a good thing as long as council members are doing it for the good of the town, not political or media attention.
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