Editor:

On May first, Councilman Johnny Revill and I were asked to participate in a field trip involving the Snow Springs Elementary third grade. We were expected to help the students understand the responsibilities of the local government officials and the city administration.

That was the assignment. However, I walked away from the experience with an unanticipated comfort and excitement about the future of our young citizens.

Having a third grader under my own roof, I was not sure how the presentation would be received and was afraid the information would be perceived as nothing short of "boring!" Councilman Revill and I had three sessions each to deliver our message. We had discussed beforehand ways to possibly challenge the children and decided a mock council meeting would be appropriate.

The children were excited to learn the duties of every position. Everyone wanted to participate and in each session a Mayor, five Council members and a City Recorder were chosen. The remaining students were told that they would be expected to construct and deliver their own arguments, based on their own opinions before this Mayor and Council.

It was fun. There was a lot of joking and laughing. That "fun" however was about to take a change in a more serious direction and the children ... responded appropriately.

I represented to them in this mock meeting that I would play the role of the city administrator and that they had to decide how their summer budget was to be spent. I presented to them issues and amounts that would be easily understood. I started with a budget of $10,000 and then noted two recreational issues that have received a lot of requests from the citizens; the need for a pool slide costing $5,000 and the requests for a skateboard park at $7,000. Of course chants came from the students for one or the other, but one of the mayors noted immediately, "Well, it looks like we have a problem."

It looked like a fun debate until I informed the council that there was one other item they had to consider. That was the need to repair potholes that would require an additional $4,000.

In each session, it was at this point that I became impressed. The students quickly realized that there was not enough money. As I called for the public comment, almost every student wanting to speak argued in favor of repairing the potholes, citing the dangerous conditions and the damage to their parents' vehicles. I asked for arguments specifically supporting the skate park or the pool slide and in almost every case the student would say that they wanted the slide or the park but also saw the need to spend the money on needed repairs and encourage the council to vote accordingly.

In the end, each of the mayors conducted the meetings with excellence, the council members voiced their concerns appropriately and each recorder, well, kept notes of each speaker and their opinion. I walked away excited that third graders, when a decision is difficult will respond so responsibly and rationally. In a way I am embarrassed that this surprised me. But I have great comfort concerning our future leaders.

-- Mark I. Johnson

Lehi City Council