Aftershocks by Nancy Warren Page A

agenda, which waspretty short, since Patrick only had one order of business, and the attached budgets and expense records of the city’s emergency crews. She’d been shocked at how much money had been spent on extra staffing to cover injured emergency personnel, on maintenance and upkeep for all the equipment, and on overtime.
    It was clear even to a noneconomist like herself that the city’s budget was stretched to the max and soon they’d have overspent for the year, yet still the emergency services needed more money, and urgently.
    The final item was a printout of the rules regarding the city’s financial safety net. A sizeable bond to be accessed only in times of emergency.
    Even though she knew that her uncle had been instrumental in turning down the mayor’s repeated requests for more funding, Briana was certain that after he’d read the latest update, Cecil would be one of the first to vote for additional funding.
    Their city needed it desperately.
    A few minutes before the meeting was to start, everyone was there but Uncle Cecil. He never missed a council meeting. Surely he’d be here?
    Patrick took his place at the head of the horseshoe-shaped table promptly at 8:00 p.m. Her uncle’s place was still empty.
    Patrick glanced pointedly at the empty seat and then at his watch. “We’ll give Councilman Thomson five minutes, and then we’ll begin without him,” Patrick said, though of course she knew it would be all but pointless, since he needed a unanimous yes vote by council in order to access the funds.
    She heard footsteps echoing on the marble floor,heading for the door that led to the council chambers. Briana let out the breath she’d been holding.
    Her uncle entered and walked to his place at the table and sat down. He made eye contact with no one, simply picked up the package in front of him and glanced through it, even though Briana had personally sent copies of all the documents out to all the council members earlier in the day.
    She sat at the table reserved for staff along with council assistant Lorna Sinke and Archie Weld. She’d suggested Fire Chief Dan Egan and Police Chief Max Zirinsky be asked to attend, but Patrick had vetoed the idea. “They’re too busy to get tangled up in bureaucracy,” he’d said. “The numbers are in the budgets and speak for themselves.”
    But now that she saw the expressions ranging from boredom to hostility on the faces of the councilmen and councilwoman, she wasn’t so sure he was right. Max and Dan could both give powerful, passionate presentations on behalf of their departments. Although, since they were both strongly opinionated, never backed down from a fight and loathed red tape, Briana could also appreciate Patrick’s strategy in having them absent.
    “Thank you all for coming,” Patrick began. “I’m sorry to pull you away from other plans, but I think you’ll agree that matters have gone from serious to critical. As you’ll see from the enclosed budgets, both projected and actual, the fire department is twenty-eight percent overbudget for the year, police seventeen percent and existing services are stretched to the limit.”
    The sounds of papers shuffling could be heard as the councilors flipped through to the budget pages in theirhandouts. A frown creased Councilman Ed Prescott’s brow and he glanced at Cecil Thomson. Ed Prescott was one of Uncle Cecil’s supporters on council. The owner of a local pharmacy, he was always concerned about costs.
    Uncle Cecil had been on council the longest. Both Ed Prescott and Councilman Gerald Anderson had supported his unsuccessful bid for mayor and it was clear that he still had their support. They usually deferred to Cecil’s opinion, and that gave the three of them a majority vote on a council of five. Cecil might not be the mayor, but he wielded a lot of power behind the scenes.
    “Mr. Mayor,” said Councilman Prescott, “we’ve had this discussion before. At the time, we voted not to increase