Oliver steps down

After an unreasonable number of unreasonably long meetings, the Planning Commission said goodbye to CodeNEXT, and goodbye to outgoing Chair Stephen Oliver, who ended his tenure with a speech, and praise from his fellow commissioners. “I don’t see any other action we can take at the time. We’ve acted on every single chapter of the code to some degree. We’ve had an amazing amount of thought that we have put into this – the slaving in back rooms, late at night and trying to figure all of this out. The level of cooperativeness that this body maintained throughout this is something I think we can all be proud of. As individuals with differing opinions, with strong minds, strong hearts,” said Oliver. “I want to say this is one of the most difficult experiences of my life, and I’m glad I did it with all of you.” Commissioner Trinity White thanked Oliver for setting the tone for the commission “to really prioritize civility and consideration and compromise. There’s no way we would have gotten 12 and 13 kind of votes without you.” Commissioner Tom Nuckols chimed in, “You are Moses, and you have led your tribe out of the wilderness.”