Council passed a motion to support Puerto Rico in its financial crisis Jan. 20. With much of Fountain Hill’s population being Hispanic, Mayor Jose Rosado introduced the idea to assist the island like any other friend or neighbor.

This resolution maintains that Fountain Hill has now joined the “legislative action… to have the United States Congress and President Obama to provide Puerto Rico the tools to create a pathway to economic recovery,” as explained in the agreed-upon document.

The resolution, however, did not receive a unanimous vote. Thinking of the government’s poor decisions that led it down this spiral of debt, council member Norman Blatt declared that it should take responsibility for its actions and “face the consequences.”

President Larry Rapp added that since the U.S. was already “twenty trillion dollars in debt!” it should consider its financial crisis, its poor and its homeless before running to the aid of another country.

Yet, in consideration of the many innocent citizens left to suffer for their government’s mistakes, the rest of council voted in the resolution’s favor.

In other matters, council had not yet decided on the number of members to comprise its Zoning Hearing Board.

Liz Fox of Stanley Street presented herself to council for a position on the board. Seeing much promise in her from the start, council was relieved to know her attendance would be prompt: “I will show up,” promised Fox in a clear admonition of previous zoning board members.

The debate that erupted afterward centered on whether the zoning board should require five members or three. With so few members showing up to meetings without so much as a phone call, this left council no choice but to take some kind of action.

“Why not just keep it five?” council member Douglas D. Trotter asked.

Rapp answered, “We’ll still need seven total,” what with needing two alternates.

“I feel better with five,” said council member Carolee Gifford, not liking all that power in the hands of only three people. But with difficulty in accumulating five members alone in the form of a three-member zoning board with two alternates, that seemed all but likely.

“We should just make a decision on this already!” exclaimed council member Helen Halleman.

With Gifford still uncomfortable with the diminished numbers, Blatt decided, “I’d rather have three people that show up than five who don’t.”

In the end they tabled the issue.