From The Tribune staff reports
TRUSSVILLE — Three incoming Trussville City Council members completed training by the League of Municipalities. The Certified Municipal Official training was held over the course of three days in Montgomery.
Incoming council members Jaime Melton Anderson, Ben Short and Lisa Bright will also have their first workshop on Friday, Oct. 30, 2020.
“I’m just excited to see where this administration goes over the course of the next four years,” said Short. “A high bar has been set by the past administration and I am excited for Trussville’s future and our future progress.”
Short said one of his top priorities is to set up a live stream of council meetings in order to allow the public access to those meetings.
As for the training, Bright said she learned a lot from the League of Municipalities training. She said at the end, participants were asked to write down five takeaways. When the three incoming council members shared their thoughts, Bright said she was pleasantly surprised.
“All three of us had basically the same things listed,” Bright said. “So, I think that is a good start and hopefully we can work together on things we want to see in our community.”
During training, participants learned the ins and outs of public administration and meetings. Tasha Scott, from the John Maxwell Leadership Team spoke about how leaders can work through tough times, such as a pandemic or financial stress.
Bright said she learned that it is important to lean on others for inspiration during difficult times.
“You’ve got to have somebody inspiring you or some of this stuff can be way too much,” Bright said. “I have my friends and people I go to church with. Those are the people I can have a check-in with and make sure I’m not putting too much on my plate.”
Training also consisted of learning how to work with various personalities, economic development and workforce development.
“We also talked about doing things regionally,” said Bright. “Taking your asset, like the Cahaba River and sports facilities and joining in with maybe Springville and Clay to make something a more regional effort.”
Anderson said the training helped prepare the group for what’s to come.
“I really enjoyed the training and getting to know Ben and Lisa better,” said Anderson. “I look forward to working with the council and the mayor to continue all the good momentum that we have from the last administration.”
The special called workshop on Friday for the Council-elect will be at Trussville City Hall at 12:30 p.m. The first official council meeting will be on Monday, Nov. 2, at 6 p.m., at the Trussville Civic Center at 5381 Trussville Clay Road. The new council will be officially installed and rules of order will be established.
