“Productive” was the word of choice, following a day-long retreat to work on communication issues between the Mobile City Council and Mayor Sandy Stimpson.
Despite a looming hearing in a lawsuit Stimpson filed over the council’s attempt to hire its own spokeswoman, the mayor and councilors both seemed chipper about the results of the meeting where they reportedly played games and discussed a way to cultivate a more civil discourse in the future.
“It was a very productive day for me personally,” Stimpson said. “All eight of us can agree that we learned something. It was an opportunity to realize that only mindset prohibits us from working together.”
Council Vice President Levon Manzie called the retreat a “productive exercise” and said there aren’t many divisions between the two sides.
“Most of our differences are not based on personality,” Manzie said. “Most of our differences are political.”
Councilman John Williams said he and his colleagues hope this effort to work together is not just an act.
“Hope is appropriate this time of year,” he said, standing in front of the Government Plaza Christmas tree. “We hope we can work together.”
The daylong planning session and retreat started at 9:30 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m., according to a statement from Stimpson’s office.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
It looks like you are opening this page from the Facebook App. This article needs to be opened in the browser.
iOS: Tap the three dots in the top right, then tap on "Open in Safari".
Android: Tap the Settings icon (it looks like three horizontal lines), then tap App Settings, then toggle the "Open links externally" setting to On (it should turn from gray to blue).
