Wednesday, May 4, 2016

People at the their best.......


Some of our readers have never been to a City Council meeting.  I attend them on a regular basis as a part of the work I do.  Last night was special.  It started with the Mayor giving thanks to God for the blessings bestowed on the City of Brighton, Alabama.  This was followed by corporate prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance by all attendees.  Brighton is one of many small towns in  Alabama  that has been financially devastated by the closing of steel mills, heavy industry, and coal mines.

I was honored to be in the presence of people mostly forgotten by the rest of the world. The  community is mostly minority, and far below the poverty level.  One of the attendees, who spoke at the time reserved for complaints, was a local resident who sleeps in her truck to be more vigilant against those who would burglarize her home.  She is well educated, articulate, and a survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, AL back in 1963. Some would judge her as being a bit eccentric, but given the freedom to be herself by a community that neither judges nor envies others. 

The City of Brighton was in the news recently.  A call came in and the police department couldn't respond.  The reason?  None of the police cars would run. The County Commissioner representing the Brighton district appeared before the council to inform them that she had reached out to others and found a donor to provide four new police vehicles.  When she made the announcement, there wasn't a dry eye in the room, including mine. 

My reason for being there was to help the city find a way to implement a new program called 
No Time for Crime. Falcon Community Services developed the program to combine the resources of business institutional, and governmental participants in working together to make cities and counties better places to live, work, and play.  Part of the program involved getting new communications equipment for the city along with an interoperability solution for better communications with neighboring communities as well as improved community service.  

It was a good evening.  It's good to have a job that can help others.  It's WONDERFUL to see and work with people at their best! Better yet, by listening to the needs of the City of Brighton, we were able to develop a brand new program that might be of benefit in YOUR city, county, or regional metro area.  It is called (you guessed it), The Brighton Plan! If you would like to know more about The Brighton Plan, give us a call, anytime, at 205.854.2611.