Chapter 69 – Town Council Meeting
Elizabeth headed over to Abigail's office to wait. She stood at the top of the steps and didn't have to wait long. She was glad that people were not wasting time and being late. As she stood there, she looked around the town that she called home and was surprised that even though it seemed like life had had drastically shifted, nothing of importance seemed to have changed. She saw people coming and going to do what needed to be done. Elizabeth took a moment to offer a prayer for her town and all the people that were there. She prayed that they would find a way to move forward and welcome the people that chose to make this place home. She then turned to specific prayers – ones for the safety of the people that she loved and those that were caring for the injured. Without thinking, Elizabeth put her hand on her stomach and said a prayer for her unborn child. She thanked God that He had seen fit to give her a child and make her a mother. Elizabeth then prayed for wisdom and strength moving forward.
Elizabeth's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a horse. She looked up and saw Lee heading that way and pointed to the cafe, he turned and headed that way. Florence, Adam Miller and Christine Fremont walked up together, she pointed them to the cafe. Jenkins, Ned and Norman Wolf were the last group. She walked with them over to the cafe. Elizabeth had planned to leave the group alone when Abigail stopped her.
"Elizabeth." Abigail said. "Can you stay and take notes?"
Elizabeth knew that Jack was a non-voting member of the council and usually took the notes, she also realized that it was a struggle for Jack to just follow what was going on. If truth be told, Elizabeth also wanted to know what was going on, so she didn't mind taking notes for Jack. There was a part of her that wanted to run for the open seat on the council, but she hadn't talked to Jack about it. She wondered if it would create a conflict for them. Elizabeth made a note to talk to Jack about it so that she was ready either way when they had the election.
"Sure." Elizabeth said, sitting down next to Jack.
"I know that we all have a lot to do, so I will keep this short." Abigail said. "There are really only a couple matters that need attention and I can't move forward without the approval of the council. I also know that we have an open seat and need to have an election, but I want things to calm down first and we learn who is staying here from the settlements. We have a couple months before we have to have the election according to the town by-laws. I was thinking of trying to push it out as late as possible. Actually according to the by-laws, we have to announce an election date within six months and the election has to take place no more than three months from the announcement. I was sworn in as mayor just before Christmas so we have until the end of June to make the announcement. Please be thinking about that. We will discuss it at the next regular meeting. So getting down to business.
First, I would like the council's approval to offer Faith Carter a full-time nursing job here in Hope Valley. We have received a grant that would cover her salary for the first year, with the expectation that we start setting aside funds to be able to take over some if not all of her salary after that. The salary would include the apartment above the infirmary as the building has been turned over to the town along with the old mining office. Can I get a motion?"
"I make a motion." Adam said. "I think that it is a wonderful idea. I am glad that she was here to help through the landslides."
"I second the motion." Lee said.
"Any questions?" Abigail asked.
"I have one." Florence said. "Where did the grant come from?
Jack looked at Elizabeth and they had a whole conversation without saying anything. Abigail saw Jack and Elizabeth look at each other. She knew that they were having one of their conversations without talking. She didn't want to have to explain where the money was coming from so he was hoping that Elizabeth was imploring Jack to speak.
"If I may." Jack said without taking his eyes off Elizabeth.
"Go ahead." Abigail said.
Jack broke Elizabeth's gaze and looked at the other people around the table.
"When I was putting the emergency plan together." Jack said. "I asked Mountie headquarters if there was funding for a doctor and/or a nurse. Faith had come out when Lee got injured and then stayed to help set up the infirmary since she was here and not getting many shifts back in Union City. I did the paperwork so if headquarters found something for funding then we wouldn't have to wait. Looking back, I am glad that I made the request when I did. I didn't know that the funding had come through until a couple days ago when Wynn Delaney brought word. The money is coming from a charity and the only requirement was that we make a plan to take over at least part of the salary after a year and the full salary after at least three years. Does that answer your question?"
"I guess." Florence said.
"I will say." Jack said. " Adam is right, we were very fortunate that Faith was here when all this happened. I don't know what would have happened to myself or others if she hadn't been here. We were lucky. I don't want to take that chance again and not be as lucky."
Jack knew that Florence was looking for a piece of gossip, but he wasn't going to bite. He knew exactly where the money was coming from, but the rest of the town didn't need to know that. Abigail knew and that was enough. It wasn't anyone else's business, especially since they would benefit without cost to them. Jack especially didn't want Florence to know that it was coming from Elizabeth's family. The less that Florence knew about the details of Elizabeth's family and money the better. He had been surprised when Florence had been elected to the council, since it was well known that she couldn't keep a secret. Jack wondered if she wanted to be a part of the council just to know what was going on in the town, but he didn't say anything at the time, since it wasn't his place.
"Any other questions?" Abigail asked.
"I have two." Norman said. "Will we still have the doctor who comes through from time to time? Also will the town be looking to hire a doctor?"
"Yes, we will still have the traveling doctor." Abigail said. "I know that he hasn't been here in awhile, but that has been due to being needed in other areas. For now, he will be coming about every four to six weeks starting sometime in the next two weeks. As far as hiring a full-time doctor, we are not actively looking. Granted, if the opportunity came up I wouldn't hesitate to seek help to secure a doctor. But right now, let's not get ahead of ourselves."
"Do you think she will stay?" Ned asked.
"I do." Jack said. "I know that Faith likes this town and wasn't looking forward to going back to Union City. Also a note on the doctor. The paperwork that I did was for both. I am sure that if the opportunity came and there was a doctor that wanted to come here, I am sure that headquarters would do what they could to help us."
Elizabeth reached over and squeezed Jack's hand. She knew that if the opportunity arose, she wouldn't hesitate to make sure that there was funding. Jack knew what Elizabeth was thinking, so he squeezed her hand back. He still hated to think about Elizabeth's family having to provide things for the town, but he also knew that they would be a lot worse off if they hadn't.
"Any other questions, before we put it to a vote." Abigail said, looking around the room.
When no one spoke, Elizabeth took that as her cure.
"All those in favor of making the offer to Nurse Faith Carter, please raise their hand." Elizabeth said.
She looked around the room and saw all the hands go up. She made a note and nodded to Abigail.
"Motion passes seven to zero." Elizabeth said.
"Okay, thank you." Abigail said. "The next piece of business we need to cover is there has been an offer to buy the mine and reopen it. I would like to accept the offer if we can reach a deal. I didn't want to talk specifics until I had the approval of the council. I think that it would be good for Hope Valley. I know that there would need to be a lot of details to work out, but the first step would be to accept the offer. I know that you probably have a lot of questions, and I don't know if I have all the answers for you. But I will try as best as I can with the information that I have.
First let me say that the owner is in town, he is also the owner of the Silverton and Rock Creek mines. He plans on reopening both of those mines as soon as possible. He also thought that it would be better if those with families stayed here in Hope Valley whether they work at Silverton or in Hope Valley if we accept his offer. He met with Lee about building additional row houses. The idea would be that he would pay for the houses to be built and then receive a portion of the rent each month until the houses are paid for and then they would become sole property of the town like the other row houses. That being said, I am sure there are more questions, but I don't have many more answers."
"How do we know this company isn't going to come in and take over like Pacific did." Christine said. "I don't want that."
"I think that the biggest difference is going to be that Hope Valley is an already established town." Jack said. "From what I understand, then Coal Valley was pretty much founded by Pacific Northwest Mining and that was why they had so much control. Another huge difference is that I am here. There will be no Pinkertons, Bill Avery and I will be the law enforcement in Hope Valley. We will keep the peace without running roughshod over people. Before you ask, if Bill and I felt the need, we would ask headquarters to assign another Mountie to help."
"I agree with Jack." Adam said. "I think that without the Pinkertons things will be different. I also know that we have learned what we want and don't want. I think that gives us an advantage when writing the contract with the new company. If they truly want to be a part of Hope Valley, then they need to be a part of it and not come in to take over."
"Very well said Adam." Abigail said. "I agree. I don't want what we had under Pacific, that is why I talked to the man and I think that his company would be a good fit for Hope Valley. I have also looked into the way that this man/company ran his other mines. I will say that he is nothing like Pacific Northwest. The reason that he didn't make an offer to buy this mine last fall when he bought the others was because he didn't like the way that Pacific Northwest did business. Not only was I impressed that he as owner came out here to deal with Silverton and Rock Creek aftermath, I can tell you that Wynn was impressed that the owner of the company himself was willing to come out here and make sure that his men were taken care of. I think that says a lot about the type of company that he is running."
"I agree with Abigail." Jack interrupted. "I haven't met this man, but I can tell you if he impressed Wynn, that says something. As Deputy Commissioner, Wynn has to be able to be good at reading people and making quick assessments of them. I think we should trust his instincts. He wouldn't be where he was with the Mounties if he made poor judgements. I am not only saying that as he is family, but as someone who has worked with him. Those of you who know me, know that I respect the uniform, but not always the man that wears that uniform. In this case, I respect the man much more than the uniform."
"Thank you, Jack." Abigail said. "Now, can I get a motion?"
"I make a motion that we accept the offer to reopen the mine." Norman said. "With the stipulation that he understands that he must be a part of the community and not take over."
"I will second that." Adam said. "With the stipulation."
"Any other questions?" Abigail asked.
She looked around the room and no one spoke, so she nodded to Elizabeth.
"All those in favor of accepting the offer to reopening the mine with the stated stipulation." Elizabeth said. "Please raise your hands."
Everyone except Florence and Christine raised their hands. Elizabeth made a note. Then she looked up again.
"All those opposed to reopening the mine." Elizabeth said. "Raise your hands."
Florence and Christine raised their hands. Elizabeth made a note.
"Motion passes five to two." Elizabeth said.
"Thank you." Abigail said. "I am sure that we will be meeting again when I know more about the mine reopening, Faith and the election, but for now, I think we have plenty to do. I have thought about calling a town meeting. I will let people know. I want to talk to Mr Yeager to see what his plan is for the men and families from Silverton and Rock Creek first. I know that he talked about moving some of the men that were able to get back to work. Again, thank you for your time and I will let you all know more as I know more."
Everyone except Abigail, Jack, Elizabeth and Lee stood to leave. Yes, there was work to do, but two people, Christine and Florence, left the meeting not happy. They had voted against the reopening of the mine. Neither thought that it would be good in the long run for the town. Whether it was that they didn't want to be associated with coal mining again or if there was something else, it didn't matter, they had lost. Neither had voiced why they voted against, but Florence was determined to get as many people to think as she did. She thought that maybe if she got enough people on her side, that they could stop things from happening or at least maybe get a different mayor. Florence wasn't happy when Abigail had been named mayor, mainly because she always thought that Abigail didn't deserve the position. Florence had her issues with Abigail for years and it stemmed from an air of superiority that Florence felt from Abigail. If Florence could get over herself, she would have known that was the farthest from the truth. Abigail genuinely cared about people and wanted the best for people. Abigail may have been lucky at times, but she had worked hard for everything that she had.
