Years may change and time may march on, but one thing is constant: city council meetings will ALWAYS be there for us. The question is: we will be there for them? (I know I will be–as will my two dozen sequestered interns who have yet to figure out the code that unlocks the titanium doors of the Secure Watching Facility.) Whether your city council members got sworn in or sworn at, January was a time to reset and pace ourselves for 11 more months of meetings.

We chronicled:

4 council meetings

In 3 states and 1 province

With a combined population of

241,700

We saw

1 mayor say “heck no” to reenacting a provocative movie scene with his councilor

$280,000 in extra cashola from a local ice rink

A 99-year-old dam not quite making it to 100

3 podcast interviews, including the council member with a council coach and the scariest tape recording you’ll hear in 2018

The second annual State of the City Council Meetings Address–with 40% less heckling this year

And don’t let 2018 pass by without pausing to thank these municipal heavyweights for steering the ship of state:

Grand Prairie, Alberta city council

Shakopee, Minnesota city council

New Bedford, Massachusetts city council

Prescott, Arizona city council