Anyone who has attended, watched or addressed the City Council knows how uneventful the entire thing is. A resident will make a case on any number of topics, ranging from development concerns to traffic to taxes, and nothing will come of it. The Council doesn’t even seem to listen.

But that was not the case at last Tuesday’s meeting when Councilmember Ed Balico showed his true colors following very critical comments from a realtor lobbyist over a new sewer lateral inspection ordinance. Balico made remarks soon after and demanded that the City respond posthaste to the group’s concerns (even going to the length of setting up a meeting to quell the lobbying group’s concerns).

The response time from Balico — who is a realtor — on the issue was nothing short of remarkable for a Council that largely follows a script for meetings…

One point of Balico’s statement stands out in particular (@ 1:58 mark). Balico suggests that the City should make it a policy to ensure that those in the real estate profession are “compensated well.” Does that strike anyone else as an odd statement by a councilmember? What about teachers, police and fire (just to name a few of the critical occupations)? Shouldn’t the City be concerned with the livelihoods of all professions represented in the community? Why only realtors?