Whose change, exactly?

Miami's recent election came down to a choice most small towns face without ever naming it: insider legitimacy versus competence legitimacy. Voters chose the insiders by a large margin in this election, which saw low voter turnout.

The leading candidate won with 176 votes and will take office in January.

At June's candidate forum, hosted by GMT, he said he was running for office because a few citizens had asked him to run. He said "nothing had changed here in years" and said a vote for him would be a vote for change.

But in a wide-ranging forum which included questions on flood recovery, infrastructure, economic development and taxes, he offered little clarity on what that change would be. When it came time to explain how Miami could keep taxes affordable while paying for infrastructure, he didn't have much of an answer. He complained that the printed budget was too small to read, hinted that this was an issue of "transparency," and moved on, without answering the question.

When asked about flood control,other candidates mentioned upstream dams. He questioned why they were discussing dams when the police station didn't have air conditioning.

This seemed to be a throwback to an ongoing fight which has played out at city council. The mayor has insisted on bypassing normal channels in addressing this issue and suggested going to purchase a unit at Home Depot, instead. The issue has gone so far as to elicit a response from the town attorney explaining the process required when using public monies.

It is unclear what change the winning candidate and his followers want to see, and I guess we will find out in January when he takes office, but the last several years have seen an influx of grant funding to the tune of $15-plus million dollars and key partnerships developed to further education, housing, infrastructure and community services.

That's not nothing.

I hope that the incoming new members of council can fully appreciate the work that has been done to date and work together to build on it. If change is coming, we hope it's in the right direction.