OUR VIEW: Whew! It's finally over

Nov. 8—Our issues with the now ousted Mayor Javier Joven and Councilmembers Denise Swanner and Mark Matta have been well documented on our editorial pages.

It's never been personal. It's always been about what is best for Odessa. Thankfully Odessans were also weary of the constant turmoil and shenanigans of this trio.

But we do not gloat or cheer.

Nope. We just want to move forward and sincerely offer our best wishes to those who will replace them and also to those who lost.

Cal Hendrick will be Odessa's new mayor and Craig Stoker and Eddie Mitchell will join the dais as council members. Steve Thompson is the only incumbent who held his seat.

They won overwhelmingly. That shows that many out there want a different type of leadership and tone to our fair city.

We urge patience with them as they learn the ropes and we'll say a prayer they are able to right this ship that has been going down for four years.

We believe they will have to break a few eggs to make this omelette. There are people in positions of great power in our city who don't belong there.

There are folks who are mistreating subordinates and misusing their positions. Our roads and our water need work. That's all well documented.

We urge the new council to look carefully at all the departments and work hard to fix what the last four years broke.

Get out of the fake news business and drop the propaganda department telling us all is great and good. Why not go back to the appropriate public information department and actually give folks information they want, like who can actually answer a question about why the new smart water meters are so messed up?

We even noted this year the propaganda phony news department with the big budget didn't bother to tell Odessans what they needed to do if they wanted to run against the incumbents. Nope. Not a word. They also insisted real news outlets submit a public information request just to find out who had filed for office.

There is work to be done and we believe these new members are up to the challenge ahead of them.

Let's all wish them well as they dive into what is likely a tough gig for the next four years.