I only wish that all the so-called “squabbling” between the mayor and the majority of the City Council were just that, but that’s not the case. This isn’t about who can do what, or to whom some provision of a state statute assigns this function or that legal authority. This is about the final gasps of trying to maintain a political system built on how your tax dollars are spent and who gets them and who doesn’t.

Every year millions and millions of your tax dollars are divvied up among individuals, companies, corporations, contractors and others who all want a piece of the pie. Have you ever taken the time to look at the list of contractors and the amounts of money they get for doing business with the city? In case you haven’t noticed, oversight and control of this spending is a hot-button issue.

Another issue is planning and permitting and how there seems to be a wide latitude on how rules, policies and ordinances are interpreted for some as opposed to others. Control and oversight of this process is also a hot-button issue.

The final and most important issue is public safety, and who controls the future of our police department. Accusations, qualifications, rating procedures, background checks, the shifting of personnel, and who controls this policy and who doesn’t have all surfaced during recent months, generating more questions than answers. What’s going on? Who is actually calling the shots? Is this really all a matter of the mayor and council being unable to share the playground together, or is it something else that will affect us all for years to come?

I think there is a strong element within the City Council that is determined to find the answers and assert its abilities, within the law, to lead our city out of the old way of doing business and into a newer day of treating everyone by the same standards, regardless of who they are.

I only wish that all this were just a series of small skirmishes between petulant people over trivial issues, but I think the outcome will determine Fairhope’s future, for good or ill, for decades to come. In all honesty, I’m rooting for the Council and wish them a safe journey through troubled waters.

Dean Mosher, a Fairhope resident for 35 years, has chaired numerous committees and boards. He currently serves as vice president of the Fairhope Single Tax Corp. and is a professional artist known worldwide for his epic historical paintings.