The meeting was called to order the secretary (that’s the Mayor’s ex wife) First item was a prayer by Reverend Goodby.  There were 258 people in attendance in council chambers.  (note that this was not unusual for the September meeting in an election year).  Since this was expected, the September meeting was held in the auditorium at the Fairhope2 high school. The Mayor rapped the gavel on the block and opened the meeting. The Mayor opened by pointing out the Illinois State Flag to his left.  He opened with “Welcome to Fairhope2, Illinois”  Old Business E-mail entry for residents of Fairhope2 The City Services Director reported that he was mostly done with the process that would allow the residents of Fiarhope2 to submit questions via e-mail.  He anticipated that it would be ready to implement prior to or just after the election in November.  The look that immediately surfaced on the Mayor’s face indicated that he wasn’t happy at all with that report.  The Mayor has a way of squaring his face into something one might see on a late night TV channel that plays non-stop B grade horror movies.  The only question that remained in the minds of the 258 people in attendance was whether the disapproval was because of the progress thus far, or the fact that the Director reminded the Mayor that the election was forthcoming. Or both. The Mayor did not dismiss the Director, but chose to ignore him for the remainder of the meeting.  He hurriedly looked around for someone else to speak with to underscore his disapproval with the Director. Since Brother Richards was in the chambers, and since B. Richards he had made his presentation about rice fields last month, the Mayor asked him how things were going.  Brother Richards said that he had a small setback in his plan.  Something about hiring a Spanish speaking foreman and a team of migrant workers from Brazil.  The term “only speak Portugese” was in there, but Brother Richards was mumbling by then. The Mayor was sorry he asked.  New Business The Sergeant at Arms took the floor and reported that weather forecasts were predicting no major rains for the foreseeable future and that Fairhope2 would likely be back in Kentucky by the next council meeting, making this one of the shortest stays in Illinois in recent years. Resignation of the entire City Council The remainder of the meeting was taken up by each elected official in turn resigning from office.  Each resigning official spent his allotted time giving reasons for resignation and reasons why he shouldn’t be re-elected.  Each official announced that he would continue until the election when the newly elected official would be installed in office. Resignation of city council in September of election years was a tradition.  After each official finished reading his resignation there was applause and well-wishing from the gallery. The Mayor was last to resign.  He spent more than his allotted time, and received a standing ovation from the gallery when he was done. The council members looked at each other with hope as they did in every September of every election year.  However, they knew what was coming at election time, and unless one of them had a stroke of good luck, they would all be sworn back in office in November. The Mayor thanked each councilman for his service to the city, and the gallery for their recognition.  The Mayor picked up his brand new, oak, temporarily-conforming gavel and rapped his new, oak, temporarily-conforming block to indicate that the meeting was officially over. it was  7:48 p.m.