Once again, we witness how well our elected officials listen to their constituents. On July 16, the City Council voted to do away with the Auburn Municipal Court in favor of another soon-to-be-discovered fiasco deal with King County, a decision that we the people may well find to be much worse than we imagined.

City officials seem to be pushing anything that requires work out to others to handle, with a shout that it will save us money. Soon they will have nothing to do in the city, and we will be paying for them to go to meetings on King County committees instead of tending to City business.

At the meeting, council members cried out about how difficult a choice it was and the many agonizing hours they listened to people about the court issue to come to their conclusion. They did everything they were supposed to do, except they did not listen to the people. If you have more than 200 people (as was reported) taking time out of their lives to come to a City Council meeting and let you know what they want you to do, it might just be your job to hear them and fulfill their wishes, instead of your own.

A few things I have learned in my short 50-plus years:

• When you are hired (being voted into office is being hired) by a person or group of people to do a job, you do what they want you to do, not what you want to do.

• When I go grocery shopping, I buy Hunt’s Tomato Sauce rather than the house brand because it tastes better.

• When I by shoes, I buy a good pair instead of the cheap shoes they sell in box stores because they are better for my feet.

My point is that the cheapest prices are not necessarily the best product. Spending a little more for a better product is the better value. It was a choice that we the people tried to tell you we were willing to pay more for. But once again, you did not listen and you aren’t listening still.

– Frank Lonergan