Glencoe City Council meeting cancelled

I scrambled outside, dodging the heavy rain, to get to my car on the street only to find out I had the wrong car key. Back I went as the heavy rains soaked through my light jacket.
I managed to make it back to the car, a bit more soaked than before, and headed to last week’s Glencoe City Council meeting.
When I arrived, I was greeted by Mayor Randy Wilson, who promptly said the meeting had been canceled.
Canceled?
It seems one council member was out of town, and two others decided not to leave their houses in such heavy rains. I thought the council meeting was indoors.
Perhaps the two council members were a bit skittish with our track record for flooding this time of the year.
That left two voting council members and the non-voting mayor, which by my math does not constitute a quorum. No quorum, no meeting.
It has been many years since that has happened. In fact, I can only remember one other time in 25 years I’ve been attending Glencoe City Council meetings that the Council could not muster a quorum. That time had nothing to do with getting wet.
But I do remember one City Council meeting in the old council chambers years ago that continued despite the tornado sirens blaring a few yards away. Must have made council members differently back then.
So here’s what you didn’t hear at the July 5 meeting, There was no discussion about:
• Fire department space needs.
• A resolution to petition a report on improving Hennepin Avenue. It may have involved the sidewalks on the street, but since the meeting never happened, we don’t know.
• NPDES permit public comment period. What? Not sure either because (same as above).
• Resolution to petition Buffalo Creek Watershed District for storm water improvements.
• A Lions Club donation.
• Updates on the Armstrong Avenue and Lincoln Park projects.
• The 2017 public improvements.
So we will have to wait until the July 18 City Council meeting to find out. I assume this one will be held on a dry day.
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Recently, The Chronicle reported that the major bid package for the Glencoe-Silver Lake school construction project  came in $3 million too high.
First question may be why bids were not awarded in March and April rather than June, or now July?
No wonder bids came in higher. Construction companies are already locked into jobs by this time of the year.
Apparently, the GSL Board does not have the option to wait until next year like the county courthouse project. Why? Because there is a gaping hole where the old tennis court once stood, and the connecting link between the high school and Panther Field House is gone.
So, cuts to the project are expected to make up the bid difference. So, just what are we getting for our $26 million?
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Speaking of the county projects, what happened to the new Judd Avenue? No work at that site has been seen in weeks. Did the contractor forget to come back?
Rich Glennie was the editor of The Chronicle for 23 years. He retired Aug. 1, 2014, but still plans to submit an occasional column.