Axar.az presents an article, "Do I Enjoy City Council?" by John Samuel Tieman.

Folks frequently ask, “Do you enjoy serving on the City Council?” They always use the word “enjoy”. And I always answer with a polite, “Yes.” But it's complicated.

“Enjoy” doesn't cover it. To serve my neighbors, that's satisfying. When I don't find the political process frustrating. I meet interesting people. That I deeply enjoy. I love my neighbors. Sadly, I've learned to tolerate sarcasm, cynicism, vitriol, and being dehumanized. I feel useful when I don't wonder if I'm doing any good. So – yes, but it's complicated.

For those who are not my regular readers, two years ago I was elected to the City Council of University City, Missouri, an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis.

To serve my neighbors, this is truly satisfying. When folks think about politics, most think of the contentious debate followed by the controversial vote. That's a tiny part. Like 95% of what I do involves constituent services. Last week, I dealt with a broken lateral sewer, trash pick-up, a crosswalk, an abandoned house, a cracked curb, and a myriad of other such matters, matters both personal and small. Municipal government is the most intimate level of the democratic republic. I love the intimacy. City government is always “we”. I love that.

There's also the big stuff. Crime is down by over 50%. We have a huge building boom that includes stores, a hotel, and apartments. Our property values have risen. We renovated two buildings in our historic center, which are now a state-of-the art police station and a new municipal court. That's a $27 million renovation, and we asked not a dime from our citizens. And there's much more.

I love my neighbors. I've met some of the most interesting folks, folks who live just down the street and around the corner. I chatted for an hour with a young Hasidic woman, an immigrant from Israel. I sat on a stoop with a Catholic pastor. A minister gave me a copy of his beautiful sermon on “The Beatitudes”. A woman told me how her basement flooded. One fellow I chatted with invited me to join the family for dinner, a tempting invitation I politely declined. So many interesting people. A restaurateur. A sculptor. A barkeep. I met a woman, a retired Navy captain, who was over 100 years old. And plenty of politicians, local, state, and national. I love these folks. There's a century-old grocery store that was converted into a restaurant. That's where I often meet folks. I've dubbed it “The 2nd Ward Constituent Outreach Center”. I often think of Martin Buber's "I And Thou", or, as my beloved wife Phoebe says in reference to Buber, "Between you and me, baby." I think of my tenure as a vast dialogue. I am extremely lucky in that I like and admire my fellow council members.

And sometimes dialogue is impossible. I was at City Hall about a year and a half ago. In the elevator, one of the civil servants, Janice, asked, “So you've been on the City Council for a few months now. What's your biggest surprise?” My answer surprised both of us.

“The insults. The vitriol. The cynicism. There's this tiny group of folks – always the same seven cynics – who feel that, just because I'm elected, they get a free shot at dehumanizing me. I was called corrupt and incompetent at my second meeting. Someone emailed, 'You drank the Council Kool Aid.' I'd been elected for like a month then. At the time, I wasn't sure where the water fountain was, much less the Kool Aid. So the insults. Especially the ones laced with cynicism. It's painful.” Fortunately, most people are kind and respectful.

Note that I am not talking about anger or aggression. Anger and aggression are everyday parts of politics. Indeed, little would get done without anger and aggression. I'm talking about vitriol and its vehicle, dehumanization.

A quick note about time. Every month, I have eight regularly scheduled meetings. I can have an equal number of spur-of-the-moment meetings. I can have a dozen emails and telephone calls every day. I spend some of every day doing Council work. Many days I spend all day doing Council work. I'm retired, so I don't mind. But folks with full-time jobs, I marvel at their dedication.

The job is also a lesson in humility. Politics is a narcissistic wound because, by yourself, you get nothing done. Politics is always involves loss. You never get everything you want. Getting a bill passed can take years. That and one day you'll step down or get voted-out.

The hardest part isn't knowing what I should do or how I should vote. The hardest part is knowing if I am doing any good.

Do I enjoy being on the City Council? Yeah. Yeah, I do. For all that, I'm 76. I'll be 78 when this term ends. Whether I'll run for reelection or not, that's another essay.