City government may not be very interesting to those with full time jobs that prevent them from attending a meeting. But it’s our duty as taxpayers to ensure that the decisions made by any elected official reflects our own views.

If at some point those decisions are not representative, then maybe new leadership should be chosen.

A major problem comes into play when those elected to represent us don’t show up for meetings. That’s because elected officials only have power when they vote on the decisions brought before them at public meetings.

Tuesday evening a sight that is becoming far too common occurred yet again; two seats remained empty for the duration of the City Council meeting in Picayune.

These two members of the Council have been absent since the Sept. 15th meeting of this year where the local leaders set a budget. After these Councilors voiced concerns that items they requested in the budget were not approved, they both walked out mid-meeting, have not been present at Council meetings since.

It can’t be proved that their absence is due to perceived grievances in the establishment of this fiscal year’s budget. But if that is the case, these Councilors need to consider whether they want to continue in office or not.

At times we all become frustrated with tasks in life. Many times things don’t go our way and instead of taking the hard road to work through them to achieve the best result, the thought of walking away may cross our minds.

Ultimately, nothing is ever accomplished from walking away from a problem.

Resolution is only achieved by tackling problems head on, and showing up each and every day to get the job done.

It’s my hope that these Councilors will return to their posts, and continue to look after the best interests of their constituents. Because, that’s the job they set out to do when they ran for office.