The Lighter Side of Public Service

One of the joys of being in public service is the opportunity to know a wide variety of people, some more interesting than others. Whether you work in a town or city of 2,000,000 or 2,000 there are characters that live in your community, run for public office, work for the community, or write about the community, and it certainly takes all kinds. We have all had some unique and surprising things happen. I think it’s one of the elements of working for a city that keeps it interesting and helps keep us grounded. You never know what’s going to come out of someone’s mouth or what they may expect you to do as a public servant. A few stories to illustrate this point follow.

The Great Donkey Tipping Cover Up

I had not been city manager long when I got call from a Texas Ranger who said he needed to talk to me. This is never good and I was thinking there must be a major police investigation about my department. The Ranger told me that a resident accused the police department of donkey tipping his prize donkey on the side of the road with a police car and then hid the crime with TxDOT by burying the donkey in an unmarked grave! Of course the resident thought I was responsible for the ongoing cover up. In addition, he actually had the donkey exhumed! The other side of the story – the donkey had gotten out of his pasture and died on the side of the road causing a traffic hazard to the public.

Don’t Let Him go to the Bathroom by Himself!

I have the greatest respect for residents who willingly put themselves out front to run for public office. It’s often a thankless job. While we may not always agree with their actions or decisions, most elected officials have the best interests of their community at heart. On occasion, some can do the strangest things. I once had a councilmember who wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay on the council. While at a retreat, he wrote out his resignation on toilet paper (not kidding). The mayor talked him out of resigning, but they would not let him go to the bathroom by himself for the rest of the retreat and he did serve out his full term.

The Giants are Coming

Little known fact – giants (at least ten feet tall) once resided in north Texas. This was according to a scientist from California who tried to stop some development about to occur. He sent me an email with a satellite aerial as evidence depicting the giant burial ground with a plea to not disturb the site. The property owner threatened to have the scientist arrested if he tried to get on his property because the scientist wanted permission to conduct a dig for these graves. We still don’t know if in fact there are giants buried there.

Each of us have many stories to tell from this amazing career in public service. Someone should write a book.

(Article submitted by Julie Couch, Town Manager, Town of Fairview. If you have interesting news or helpful topics to share, please submit them to Kim Pendergraft at [email protected]. Please keep the information to fewer than 250 words.)