“But What If We Build A Stadium?!”

From the outset everyone who keeps an eye on Lake View politics knew Toni Braddy’s intentions when she called her short notice special workshop. She, Vivian Bean, and Nancy Ray would spend the evening paying lip service to “make sure they fully vetted the best option for the town” while they really did their level best to maneuver the engineer who designed the new septic system for the town hall into saying that a sewer connection would be the better option for the town. This failed miserably and would have earned the dubious honor of being the most laughably ridiculous thing that happened at town hall that night were it not for a childish anti-sewer sign featuring poo emojis brought by one of the meeting attendees. Even so, the outlandish ideas presented by Bean, Braddy, and Ray made for an entertaining evening.

What Should Mayor Calhoun Do About Toni Braddy?

Councilwoman Toni Braddy has made a habit recently of exceeding the boundaries of her position as a member of the Council. She has called meetings, disrupted town business, taken it upon herself to interview candidates for town positions, and even made the claim that “she would follow protocol” and act in the mayor’s stead when she feels he is not doing as she feels he aught. Now, Braddy has overstepped her authority with a special workshop posted for Monday night, calling the engineer – who was hired by the town to draw plans for a new septic system at the municipal complex – to attend without prior approval from anyone. There are numerous questions surrounding her actions, but the focus needs to be on the Mayor’s actions in response. Braddy has stepped far out of line and needs to be curtailed and put back in her place. The question is how should the Mayor go about this.

Special Meeting Puts Rift Between Lake View Town Council Members on Display

Thursday, July 19, the Lake View Town Council finally met to replace the unceremoniously terminated Jon Terry as Town Attorney. This meeting came on the heels of multiple failed attempts to hold a special meeting to replace the attorney and an ultimatum from Mayor Calhoun that, on the advice of the League of Municipalities, no meetings would be held to conduct town business until a new attorney was hired to advise the Council. Given the multiple lawsuits facing the town, glaring flaws in the wording of multiple ordinances, and the hard push by certain members of the Council to continue more of the same, this was an unquestionably wise decision. However, Toni Braddy has emerged as the mouthpiece for Nancy Ray’s agenda and has positioned herself as the council member most combative towards the mayor. She has led the charge to derail all meetings called by the Mayor, has squarely placed blame on the Mayor for calling the meetings without her express approval, and caused a scene at this meeting with a childish tantrum related to the presence of Mayor Calhoun’s personal attorney on the dais. Needless to say, it was an exercise in dysfunction, but the end result was a well-played win for the Mayor and Lake View.