New Council Steps In

Coming together tonight for the first time, the new City Council members were more than comfortable with the new arrangement. Keeping the meeting a mere half hour long, a lot was covered, from comments expressed by the public for concerns of drugs and crime in our city to another sharing her overall gratitude for everything the City Council, as well as the city, does for its residents.

Council member Donna Sapienza of Ward II was first to speak among the Council. She shined light on the good work of Rick Brady, along with several University of Northern Colorado students preserving and maintaining the rivers among northern Colorado.

At Large council member Maria Secrest also spread thanks and gratitude to once again be on council and how much she has enjoyed working with the past Council.

There was one very important person missing from tonight’s meeting. Mayor Tom Norton was absent due to a three day seminar held at Harvard University for newly elected mayors, and newly elected he was. Norton has officially been mayor for a little over a day now. A special meeting was held last night to swear in Norton and relieve Ed Clark of his duties.

Overall, I think the new members are going to fit perfectly fine within their new seats at Greeley’s Council Chambers.

And The Winner Is...

As we were covering city elections at the Greeley Tribune on election night, reporters and editors alike were hurrying to get out the latest results of this year’s winners. The night began with a staff meeting where Editor Randy Bangert along with Managing Editor Kelly Tracer, designated which staffers were to cover which area of the election.

Tonight, ballots were starting to add up and certain candidates were gaining momentum. Everyone was most curious about mayoral candidates. Ed Phillipsen and Tom Norton have been racing neck and neck for months now and tonight would be to deciding finish line. As of 7:30 P.M., Norton was ahead of Phillisen by only .02 percent.

For Ward II, Donna Sapienza had a foot up over Randy Sleight. Ward III, John Gates has won by a landslide. Ward IV is neck and neck with Mike Finn and Bill Sterling. City At Large is also a guarantee with Sandi Elder’s win over Thomas “TJ” Marlo and Tim Annable.

Overall, a newsroom can be a very happening place, especially on election nights. I learned while being at the Greeley Tribune that you get to become very close to your co-workers and come to depend on the information they give you.