Opolis: Town Hall IC

[Adab]

Sensing the tide turning towards Respite, Fergal decided to follow along, though somewhat reluctantly. "While it would bring me the greatest pleasure to have my proposed name adopted," he said, rising to his feet, "I too desire to see a consensus forming in this matter, so that we can move towards more important matters as soon as possible, and I have said before that Respite is indeed a good name. Therefore I change my vote to Respite." Then he returned to his seat.

[Vienna Eliot]

“There are 3 votes cast for Montgomery, and 5 votes cast for Respite. Therefore, the name of our city shall be Respite.”

Vienna briefly allowed for any applause, then continued. “Now, we need a charter. How should our city function?”

[Likar]

Mohhumad Akbir takes another puff of his Cigar.

"I believe the system of the economic should be mixed, as the economy in the eastern parts of the city. We should establish a UBI (Universal Basic Income), which the money cant be taxed, and can be spent on anything. Some countries that have establish this, have had less then 1% people leave, mostly to take care of children. A UBI of 700$ a month, could help the city grow greatly, and can attract more immigrants and citizens."

[Alozia]

"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me!" Joseph repsponded angrily. "Our city doesn't even 'ave a police department! Honest, hard-working folks are struglin', but yer concerned 'bout givin' out money to folks who are too lazy to work! Look at 'im with his expensive cigars! It burnt all o' his brains out! I bet you imported that from Cuba or some other foreign land anyway!"

[Likar]

"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me!" Joseph repsponded angrily. "Our city doesn't even 'ave a police department! Honest, hard-working folks are struglin', but yer concerned 'bout givin' out money to folks who are too lazy to work! Look at 'im with his expensive cigars! It burnt all o' his brains out! I bet you imported that from Cuba or some other foreign land anyway!"

"No, they are not made in Cuba. They are brought from my cousin, Juan. I only have 3 packs, and I get it every 4 months"

[Greater Arab State]

"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me!" Joseph repsponded angrily. "Our city doesn't even 'ave a police department! Honest, hard-working folks are struglin', but yer concerned 'bout givin' out money to folks who are too lazy to work! Look at 'im with his expensive cigars! It burnt all o' his brains out! I bet you imported that from Cuba or some other foreign land anyway!"

"I support the establishment of a police department for our ci as the first order of business." Montgomery said in agreement.

[Alozia]

"Oh, you gotta be kiddin' me!" Joseph repsponded angrily. "Our city doesn't even 'ave a police department! Honest, hard-working folks are struglin', but yer concerned 'bout givin' out money to folks who are too lazy to work! Look at 'im with his expensive cigars! It burnt all o' his brains out! I bet you imported that from Cuba or some other foreign land anyway!"

"No, they are not made in Cuba. They are brought from my cousin, Juan. I only have 3 packs, and I get it every 4 months"

"Juan!? That does sound oddly Cuban!"

Before the othar man could repsond Joseph decided to change the topic to a more serious one.

"Gentlemen, while those of us with their heads in the clouds talk about some riddiculous and unrealistic concepts, I suggest that we talk about the way our city should actually be run. The general concept should be easy to explain. Firstly, we need a mayor and a city council. I believe that the Mayor should be elected by all citizens in an direct election and Council Members should be elected by the people of their respective neighbourhoods. If we want to have an efficient, uncorruptuble administration necessary to run any new city, we need laws protecting the people from big corporations. In order to do so I suggest we limit the amount of money one can donate to a political campaign and limit donation-givers to persons."

[Zjaum]

Everett cracked his knuckles. "Let's tackle the manageable problems here. Mr. Akbir, you have a score of demands, but no reasonable solutions. In terms of your unemployment situation, we have a potential supermarket at our periphery that we'd like out of the picture. I can probably talk with you outside of this meeting; the store can give you both jobs and cheap goods. As to the police question, I recommend alongside Montgomery to put that as our next point of order. This new force should work with all the neighborhood watches already set up. I'm certain that my people would hate to have their time-honored tradition infringed."

[Klomania 2]

"Mr. Caldwell's proposal of a mayorship and a council of neighborhood representatives sounds like a good idea." Conlord agrees.

However, after hearing Fergal's concern over the loss of jobs as a result of the switch to solar power, he enters a stance of deep thought as he ponders how to deal with the rise in unemployment.
For years, Montgomery Hill was the trade hub filled with low-tech, polluted industry and the lack of an educated populace and sufficient law enforcement to deal with the rise in crime, and the lack of public health services, as a result of the dire circumstances of many of his neighborhood's citizens.
If solar power results in less jobs, then perhaps he could reorganize the industry, allowing a more modern industrial center that takes up less space, so that room can be had for more commercial businesses like shops, restaurants, and offices, a bigger law enforcement department, better clinics or a larger hospital, and more educational institutions; perhaps a few elementary schools, one high school, and one central library, as well as public transit access from the neighborhood to the city's universities and colleges.
But how should the industry be reorganized, he ponders, as he is not well-versed in the issue. He will have to contact his advisors on the matter....

Anyhow, he thinks about Akbir's economic plan. After he scribes a bunch of mathematics and probable scenerios on a fresh new page of his agenda, he realizes that Akbir's plan isn't actually to aid the poor.

"$700 a month given from the government to any citizen to spend money on anything, and the government can't tax it? So basically, you are talking about $22.58 to $25.00 a day. On top of the minimum wage of, if I recall correctly, $10.00. So if for example a minimum wage worker works 8 hours, and earns $80.00 which can be taxed, and earns an additional $22.58 per day say if the month has 31 days. So each day, that worker supposedly has $102.58, 22% of which can not be taxed. That means 28.225% of the minimum wage income will have to be taxed and given to the government by any means in order to make even from the UBI. If a millionaire earns $100,000 per day, then only 0.02% of such an income needs to be taxed, which will barely hurt him. While the UBI sounds great on paper, you have to make up for it with taxes, in which case, the poor people who would have needed such free income the most, gets shafted. Therefore, I vote no on your Universal Basic Income proposal."

[The Miaphysite Church of Coptic Archism]

Wyatt Combs nodded politely to Sevelev, who he recognized vaguely from an inter-union meeting several weeks back. He quietly let the vote on the city's name come and go, before listening to the discussion move on to more important subjects.

He cleared his throat. "I can abide by a directly elected mayor and a representative town council to pass by-laws, but I hope we don't expect the mayor to handle all of the city's executive duties alone. I'm also curious about how much autonomy will be granted to the Neighborhood associations/HOAs, given some of us have gotten used to a little control over ourselves."

Wyatt scratched his chin, before continuing, "I see why you'd think a city police department would be high priority, but we do already have neighborhood watches volunteering. It's not ideal but it isn't as though we have no protection. I'm sure most of you haven't cared to give it much thought, but if you all want your refuse to keep being collected, and your sewerage to keep having somewhere to go, it's time for the city to establish waste and sewage departments and start paying the workers of the sewage and waste collection facilities in Scarrige a fair wage, including backpay for us keeping this city above the water while this whole process has been going on."

Wyatt coughed, finally adding "Similar arrangements need to be made for other services like Montgomery Hills' power plants."

[Adab]

"Do enlighten me on this," Fergal chimed in, "but do we really need waste and sewage departments? As far as I'm concerned we can take care of our waste ourselves. Maintaining waste and sewage departments will only prove a drain on our budget. Nay, what we need to do is to convince each neighborhood to come together and volunteer to clean up the neighborhood and remove the sewage. That way we can build the community spirit and not lose a penny."

[The Miaphysite Church of Coptic Archism]

"Do enlighten me on this," Fergal chimed in, "but do we really need waste and sewage departments? As far as I'm concerned we can take care of our waste ourselves. Maintaining waste and sewage departments will only prove a drain on our budget. Nay, what we need to do is to convince each neighborhood to come together and volunteer to clean up the neighborhood and remove the sewage. That way we can build the community spirit and not lose a penny."

Wyatt Combs, a member of the Sanitation Workers' Union, stood and stared in amazement when the man questioned whether the city needed to handle waste and sewage. He was silent for several seconds, staring with a glaze over his eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I heard you correctly. You want volunteer waste and sewage departments organized by neighborhood? If the people of your neighborhood want to take time out of their days to collect refuse, that's wonderful, but I doubt the same goes for many of the neighborhoods here. And picking it up is just the first step. There's a lot of logistics involved, you need storage, sorting, recycling. Unless you're planning on using our waste management facilities for free, this will involve building a facility in every neighborhood. That's not a money-saver. We have the capacity to handle the city's refuse, but not unpaid."

Wyatt stares into space for a second, before continuing. "You know what, forget the waste management for a second, do you even know how sewage works? You're going to have volunteers remove it? What does that even mean? Are you saying we build new sewage facilities in every neighborhood, and dig up the entire city to pipe them? Where do you think the sewage will be removed to, if not the Scarrige Sewage Plant? Wherever you're thinking, I can guarantee it won't be free unless you plan on breaking laws."

Wyatt sank back into his seat.

[Adab]

"That is what I'm thinking of," Fergal replied, before suddenly feeling the urge to add, "though if the gentlemen here believe that establishing waste and sewage departments are in our best interests, then so be it. I stand by my statement that this will be no more than a drain on our budget. My home Fergaland has survived for quite many years without having some fancy department or institution taking care of its waste or something. We the people, hand in hand, take care of it."

[The Miaphysite Church of Coptic Archism]

"That is what I'm thinking of," Fergal replied, before suddenly feeling the urge to add, "though if the gentlemen here believe that establishing waste and sewage departments are in our best interests, then so be it. I stand by my statement that this will be no more than a drain on our budget. My home Fergaland has survived for quite many years without having some fancy department or institution taking care of its waste or something. We the people, hand in hand, take care of it."

"If by a drain on our budget, you mean it will cost money, of course it will be. That is what an expense is, that is how government works, you spend money on public services. I don't know how your feudal plantations out north plan on doing it, but down here we live in an urban area. Decentralized, volunteer labour has zero chance of dealing with the amount of refuse generated. That's all before the fact that at the end of the day, all of your volunteers need somewhere to dump the trash for sorting, which we won't be taking on for free. I don't even want to broach how bad an idea it is to have neighborhoods try to handle their sewage for free. Unless you want to build a new facility and not pay the workers, or illegally dump it out of a pipe into a river somewhere, your only option is to pipe it to Scarrige, and again, we do not work for free."

[The United Artherian Federation]

Ethan walks in and quietly takes his seat and listens the debate on waste and sewage departments.
Idiots, he thought. What’s more of a pressing matter is forming a police department. He sighs and sets down his agenda.

•Set up a police department
•Get the town charter taken care of.
•Waste management agency.
•Set up a school district. The private high school is almost busting at the seams.
•Set up a tax code.
•Zone areas of the city for commercial, residential and public use.

He begins listening to the debate again.

Retcon

[Collatis]

“After hearing all arguments, I have decided to change my vote for Respite.” Kander states.

Gilchrist: “I’ll vote for Respite, seeing as it’s the consensus choice.”

Sensing the tide turning towards Respite, Fergal decided to follow along, though somewhat reluctantly. “While it would bring me the greatest pleasure to have my proposed name adopted,” he said, rising to his feet, “I too desire to see a consensus forming in this matter, so that we can move towards more important matters as soon as possible, and I have said before that Respite is indeed a good name. Therefore I change my vote to Respite.” Then he returned to his seat.

Rudy had heard just about enough. Brushing the crumbs off his lap and tossing his pretzel bag aside, he stood and exclaimed, “I’m not going along! I can just see you all in Berlin in 1939 goose-stepping past me: ‘C’mon Rudy, go along, go along!’ I do not accept this ‘consensus’ nonsense and I do NOT accept this lousy excuse for a name! RECOUNT! RECOUNT!”

[Vienna Eliot]

Vienna looked at Rudy, mortified and feeling a little deja vu. He looked through the pages of his book.

"Uh, the uh, the — order, order! Mr. Grimm will come to order and resume his seat, please, and thank you."

[Collatis]

Vienna looked at Rudy, mortified and feeling a little deja vu. He looked through the pages of his book.

“Uh, the uh, the — order, order! Mr. Grimm will come to order and resume his seat, please, and thank you.”

“I will not be silenced, Mister Speaker. The people of Res- the people of THIS TOWN will not be silenced! You can pass as many laws and resolutions as you like, but you can never change what the people of THIS TOWN know in their heart: that this town deserves a name as great as its residents. This embarrassment to democracy and good governance cannot and will not stand.”

Rudy began to write furiously on a piece of paper. They would pay for this disrespect. Oh yes they would.

[Van Hool Islands]

"Hear, hear!" shouts a previously quiet brunette in her mid-30s. This woman is later determined to be the councillor for Armitage, Victoria Garrett.

[Adab]

Fergal watched silently as the man railed against the town's name and a woman shouted "Hear! Hear!". It took him barely a second after the last word to decide he had had enough of this.

"Can we please put an end to this farcical distraction?!" The old man leapt from his seat so suddenly that the gust of wind nearly toppled his cane over. "This hallowed hall has decided on a name by vote and even though some of us here might not be too fond of it - I myself had in mind a better name - there is no reason to doubt the fairness and legality of said vote. I propose, in the name of common sense, that we move on to matters that actually concern us!"

Though Fergal would have preferred to see the name he proposed adopted, he felt Respite was good enough and had no time for his outburst. The name had been decided and it was time for everyone to turn to more important matters.

[The United Artherian Federation]

Vienna looked at Rudy, mortified and feeling a little deja vu. He looked through the pages of his book.

“Uh, the uh, the — order, order! Mr. Grimm will come to order and resume his seat, please, and thank you.”

“I will not be silenced, Mister Speaker. The people of Res- the people of THIS TOWN will not be silenced! You can pass as many laws and resolutions as you like, but you can never change what the people of THIS TOWN know in their heart: that this town deserves a name as great as its residents. This embarrassment to democracy and good governance cannot and will not stand.”

Rudy began to write furiously on a piece of paper. They would pay for this disrespect. Oh yes they would.

“For the love of God Grimm. That is your name right? Each of us represents our neighborhood, and we democratically voted for the name of Respite. If people change their vote, so be it. That’s democracy at its finest. So please, stop acting like a big-wig Congressman whos Bill didn’t get passed. This a small-ish town legislating on local affairs, not congress on a federal level.”

[Klomania 2]

"Indeed, calm down at once and accept the outcome!" Conlard screams. "I am not afraid to call up security guards if you keep throwing tamper tantrums."

The entirety of the town hall fell silent.

[Kazarogkai]

Solomon Amon Day
Old Town Hall building

Late

But this man this 5'4 rather stocky and solidly built red headed black man known as Solomon doesn't mind too much. The amount of respect he has the for institution that is on his mind is rather low to put it simply. Since the days of days has gone while o many others fell flat on their faces his people did fine. Sure there is some hang ups here and there but it's not like there weren't any before the aforementioned events. From worrying about kids and cyber bulling and other problems of a modern era to the now current more primitive matters like food and water being at the top of priority shelf. Different problems same game. Still the powers that be from the Mountain he came from insisted they needed to represent themselves and lucky boy Solomon is they choose him along with 11 other cats to tag along for the ride. 6 fighters and 6 civilians including himself in the latter of course. So now that they they have finally arrived at their destination, the Old Town Hall building, and when he quietly enters and surveys the field what does he find?

Chickens

Chickens and bitches all around squawking like they mamma's never gave them no god damn sense. A shameful display in all the words. Looking back at his entourage he had to shake his head in disgust. Only when the Town Hall seemed to have finally quieted down does Solomon and his company decide to enter. At first they thought about taking a seat somewhere but instead subconsciously as a group decided to stay near the door for the view. They keep quiet except with exception of one of their own named Marcus, a Fighter among them, who spoke in a loud but measured manner:

"The Delegate from the Black Step Mountain Community in attendance."

Marcus steps back and Solomon steps forward

"Good mourning fellows delegates, I am sorry for my late arrival. Such is the such. If I may if no one objects I would like to ask whoever is beholden with the officer of speaker of this... assembly for a review of the current proceedings of this body and maybe if it's of no difficulty the right to take the stand."

The young man stood waiting for an answer, assuming it would come soon enough.

[Zjaum]

Everett looked on as the dissident was quickly and dramatically shouted down by his comrades. While it was his nomination, he didn't want a civil war on his hands, or a neighborhood that thought that it could split off. A frank, logical, calm response should settle it. "To the delegate of... Mister Grimm. If you would like to withdraw from this council, you are welcome to do so. Your people would have its electricity, food, and water brought in and controlled by an outside entity. Or, you could sit down and save your breath for more pressing matters. I know I plan to do just that.

"Now, to the delegate from..." Ernest reviewed his paper. "Black Step Mountain, Mister Day. First off, thank you for coming. You haven't missed much; nearly the entirety of today's meeting was dedicated to making a name. Two neighborhoods proposed Montgomery and Carrie after their respective namesakes, but the majority decided on the historically-based, neutral name of Respite. We are discussing the next course of action, and I believe that we are split between establishing a police force and writing a constitution.

"Ascribing to the realist doctrine of power, I would recommend discussing the police force issue first. The alternative is a good idea, but the collection of our proposals today can be compiled into our outline for government anyway. When everything is said and done, isn't that what a constitution is supposed to be?"

His phone vibrated, and he peered under the table to see the text he'd received. "After the establishment of law enforcement, I propose that we should rezone the perimeters of our city, the lands that currently don't belong to a neighborhood but will inevitably be developed."

[Vienna Eliot]

Vienna looked at the arguments apprehensively. How could he refocus their attention on something more important?

"Okay — does anyone have any hard proposals they'd like to make? It's getting late, and we need to start debating something concrete that we can eventually vote on. I don't know about y'all, but my folks back home aren't going to be too happy if I get back and tell 'em all we've got is a name and some dissenters."