{"id":9985,"date":"2015-07-02T01:54:40","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T01:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=9985"},"modified":"2015-07-02T01:54:40","modified_gmt":"2015-07-02T01:54:40","slug":"council-member-makes-waves-right-off-the-top","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=9985","title":{"rendered":"Council member makes waves right off the top"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

Mark Nair might not like being called this, but he’s turned into a rabble-rouser.<\/p>\n

The newest member of the Amarillo City Council stirred ’em up this week with a call for City Manager Jarrett Atkinson to resign. He did so just after he took his oath of office. He took his seat on the council, participated in a public meeting — then tossed the grenade right into the public’s lap.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.newschannel10.com\/story\/29455295\/what-do-potential-resignations-mean-for-downtown-development<\/p>\n

This is not the fellow I understood was running for a spot on the council. His friends and allies call him thoughtful and deliberative. Yes, he said he sought “change” at City Hall. I recall reading a news report immediately after he won the runoff for the Place 4 seat on June 13\u00a0in which he said he didn’t even know Atkinson, but that he looked forward to seeking answers to key questions about the way the city administration is run.<\/p>\n

OK, then. He takes the oath and immediately calls for Atkinson’s resignation?<\/p>\n

I’ve met Nair once, at a downtown Amarillo coffee shop. He was running for the council. Some friends of mine introduced him to me. We exchanged pleasantries. That’s it.<\/p>\n

So, I’m not going to scold Nair too harshly here. I just would caution the young man about the land mines that await him if he becomes too out front on some of this get-rid-of-Atkinson rhetoric without knowing (a) the man about whom he is speaking and (b) all the details of what goes on at the highest levels of city government.<\/p>\n

As a council member, he and his colleagues have authority to demand the manager’s resignation. They set the policy and the manager implements it on their — and our — behalf.<\/p>\n

However, he’s one of three brand, spanking new members of the City Council. None of them has serious management experience, although Place 1 Councilman Elisha Demerson\u00a0did serve a single term as Potter County judge — more than 20 years ago!<\/em><\/p>\n

I was hoping for a go-slow approach when the new council members took office.<\/p>\n

My hope has been dashed.<\/p>\n

Those agents of change out there are happy, I reckon. Fine. Be happy.<\/p>\n

Me? I’m hoping we can maintain some continuity as we move forward and start pondering our careful next steps in this downtown revival effort.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

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Mark Nair might not like being called this, but he’s turned into a rabble-rouser. The newest member of the Amarillo City Council stirred ’em up this week with a call for City Manager Jarrett Atkinson to resign. He did so just after he took his oath of office. He took his seat on the council, … Continue reading Council member makes waves right off the top<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[288,290,1436,1556,2418,2915],"class_list":["post-9985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-amarillo-city-council","tag-amarillo-city-hall","tag-downtown-amarillo","tag-elisha-demerson","tag-jarrett-atkinson","tag-mark-nair"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}