Claremont Song & Dance

COUNCIL WORKSHOP SATURDAY, 11/3

Claremont, like many other cities, loves to embrace the latest management fad. Team building is one such trend that City Hall picked up on a while ago. As longtime Claremont observers know, nobody does team building like the Claremont City Council.

When former City Manager Glenn Southard was still here, they used to hold a yearly council-manager retreat, faciliated by none other than that good ol' Friend of Glenn, Dr. Bill Mathis.

City staff, too, works to build camaraderie and morale through team building exercises. It takes a lot of coordination for staff to put on those song-and-dance numbers whenever some important, costly city project is up for discussion.

In coming years, the City Council will tackle building a new $25 million police station, affordable housing proposals, the $100 million-plus water company buyout, funding for the phased-in $12 million Padua Park, the purchase of more open space, and many other dollar-intensive projects. They'll have to work as a team to get all these things done and paid for.

The council has worked hard on their next team building number and will be rehearsing it this tommorow, November 3rd, at their Council Workshop from 9am to 4pm at the Alexander Hughes Center. Come on out and watch the council work on their fancy footwork as they decide on their priorities for 2008 and beyond. The Hughes Center is located at 1700 Danbury Rd. between Mountain and Towne Aves.

Thanks to JibJab.com, we can show some of the action they'll be practicing Saturday. In this video, the council soberly considers its future expenditures (they sure take spending your tax dollars seriously!):