Disclaimer: I own nothing of Dragon Flyz, which is owned by Gaumont Pictures. Only the plot and OC's are mine.
(-)
Councilman Joshua tried to hide his relief as the final meeting of the day drew to a close. They'd gotten a lot of work done that day and everyone was, if not outright happy, at least satisfied with many of the agreements they'd settled on.
He glanced around at the council, "Now, before we call it a day, were there any other matters of business that need to be brought to the council's attention?"
He privately hoped there wouldn't be any, though of course those hopes were dashed when a hand was raised and a woman's voice called out, "Yes, I have an important matter to discuss!"
Joshua neatly hid a wince as he recognized the voice and he saw more than a few of his fellows do the same. He tried to head her off, "Councilwoman May, if it's what you've been bringing up constantly at the other meetings, perhaps you should wait for the next meeting and bring it up first thing? That way we can all consider it with fresh minds?"
She was a minor councilwoman, working under Councilman Adams, who himself was in charge of Education. May dealt specifically with the arts classes, what few there were, and had been hounding the Council for months regarding her section's budget.
The brunette woman frowned at him and jabbed a finger in his direction, "I've done that before and it got brushed aside! Now I demand we re-consider the budget for the Arts programs!"
There was a groan from several of the other council members. One of them glared at her, "What is there to re-consider? The Arts programs get few applicants and do nothing but suck up valuable resources!"
May turned to focus her glare on the other councilor, "Well maybe we would get more applicants if our programs were better funded! As it is, we can only offer a painting course, a sculpting course and a combined history course on art appreciation and the great artists throughout history!"
Joshua intervened quickly to avoid a shouting match, "Councilwoman May, what exactly are you hoping to cover under a new budget? From what I've read of your reports, your courses get adequate supplies and materials for the number of students in them."
She sighed and told him, "I'd like for us to start offering a proper drawing course at least, not something that's shoved in with the painting course. That costs the painting course almost a month at the beginning, teaching students the basics of professional drawing so they don't feel lost when planning out their pieces. Plus it would give students the option to take one or the other, instead of forcing them to take both."
May hesitated, seemed to reconsider something, then sighed again and added, "Failing that, I'd at least like to hire on another teacher so we could either split our current history course or more preferably offer another history course on something else, like music appreciation."
Joshua nodded and made a show of writing something down on an electronic notepad, "Alright, I've written down that we'll talk about the Arts programs' budget first thing tomorrow. Is that sufficient?"
She tightened her lips in an almost frown but nodded, "That's fine, so long as we actually talk about it and not gloss over the subject."
Taking the presented chance, Joshua addressed the council again, "And with that, I do believe we are done for the day. Until tomorrow everyone."
At the clear closing statement, many of the others quickly fled the council room, eager to either get home and relax or to get back to their offices and put in motion agreed upon plans from today's meetings.
Before she left, Councilwoman May gave Joshua a pointed look, "We will discuss the budget tomorrow?"
He motioned to the notebook, "First subject, like I said."
She frowned but gave in and left, seeming at least a little satisfied at the arrangement. Councilman Joshua let out a relieved breath and left the room himself, wanting to get home and put the stress of the day behind him.
He didn't look forward to tomorrow, not with that sensitive issue looming on the horizon.