One of the first tables I sat at was in Dalkeith, earlier this summer.
What stayed with me afterward wasn’t one particular complaint. It was how quickly one concern led into another.
A conversation about roads became a conversation about where municipal money goes. That became a conversation about communication. Then about whether people in the smaller communities feel they are part of the discussion before decisions are made.
Those things are connected.
People don’t expect every road to be rebuilt tomorrow or every problem to disappear because somebody is running for mayor. But they do want to know that someone is paying attention, that they understand what is happening, and that their community matters even when there isn’t a crisis.
That evening reminded me why I started sitting at these tables in the first place.
You can learn a lot from reports, budgets, studies and council minutes. I intend to read them.
But there are things you only understand when you sit across from somebody and let them tell you how a decision actually lands where they live.
That’s the kind of listening I want to continue.