Council - Double, double toil and trouble?

The three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth are trying to stir up an evil soup (IV.1) to pile up 'toil and troubles' until they double Macbeth's woes.

Not that anyone wishes troubles on the City Council, but the unexpected passing of Council President Ray Blanco immensely complicates their collective life.

They meet again Monday evening, for the first time in a month and the first time since Ray's passing.

They will have to elect a new President...and maybe a new Chair of the Committee of the Whole.

They will have to wrestle with deciding which of the three nominees to be presented by the Democratic City Committee will be agreed upon to fill the seat until December 31.

And they will have to begin to come to grips with the city's -- belated -- budget for FY2007. (According to NJSA 40A:4-5.b., the budget should have been introduced, in writing, not later than August 10.)

And that is only the beginning.

No matter who leads or who fills the vacant Council seat, everyone will surely miss the nimble guidance of Ray Blanco.

Hopefully, he is saying a little prayer for us.

-- Dan Damon

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