I've written before about volunteering my time as a member of the Lewisville Zoning Board of a Adjustment for a few years, and now as a member of the Lewisville Planning Board.  Usually I really enjoy it and I definitely find it interesting.  Last night's work session, however, was interesting yet far from enjoyable.

Our work sessions and public meetings (we usually have one work session and one public meeting each month) usually last about two hours and unless you really get into town planning they're about as exciting as watching paint dry.  Occasionally we have some contentious issues pop up and you can imagine that if we recommend against granting someone's request they aren't too happy about it.  Last night we had a gentleman come in to attend our work session even though his case wasn't on our agenda because he hadn't filed the appropriate paperwork with the town.  Still we made a motion to add him to the administrative part of our agenda, which falls at the end of the meeting, and he waited for it to come up.

Cut to 2 1/2 hours later and the gentleman's case came up.  The town planner reported that he hadn't recieved the paperwork necessary to formally schedule the case for us and as a result he and his staff hadn't prepared a staff report or recommendation, so we agreed to continue the case to our next meeting.  The planner had also provided us with copies of the letter from the gentleman that had initiated the case and an attached list of new uses he would like to have applied to his downtown building.  In addition the town planner provided a copy of the letter his office had sent to the gentleman detailing what he needed to do to get his case on the agenda.  When the gentleman heard that his case wasn't going to be heard he wasn't pleased and he asked if he could speak. When told that it wasn't a public meeting so he'd need to get permission from the Board to speak and it became apparent that we weren't inclined to listen to him until we had all the case work in front of us, he proceeded to speak anyway.  I can't quote him directly, but I can say that he basically accused us of having preconceived notions about his case and he said that the whole process was rigged.  He ended by sarcastically thanking us for wasting two hours of his time.

I was fine until he accused us of wasting his time.  As I said, we normally meet twice a month, but for much of this year we were under a series of tight deadlines due to a moratorium the town had put on downtown development so for about six months we were meeting weekly.  We on the board are all busy people with jobs, families, family activities, church activities, etc. and yet we willingly give the town some of our precious time in exchange for the occasional "thank you" or "job well done."  It's truly the definition of public service and for someone to accuse us of wasting his time just pushed me over the edge.  The devil on my shoulder wanted to shoot him a one-fingered salute and tell him he could take his valuable time and shove it where the sun don't shine, but instead I bit my lip and let him go ahead and stomp out of the room like a five year old.  I'm confident that if his case does come before us we'll treat it with the same objectivity we always do, but he won't be getting service with a smile.