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January 12, 2010
Councilwoman
Kendra Saunders Saluted...
by Tim Roschel, Lancaster City
Council member
 Kendra Saunders attended her last Council meeting and thanked the
crowd for their support during her tenure. Having chosen not to run
for re-election Council woman Saunders worked to insure the election
of Todd Smith and the Democratic ticket. In addition, she has
assumed the role as Vice-Chair of the Lancaster City Democratic
Committee.
Councilman Todd Smith replaced Councilwoman Kendra Saunders on both
City Council and as chair of the Finance Committee. As I have a
positive bias toward Lancaster City, I also have a positive bias
toward Kendra Saunders. In short, I think she’s great. I was
reminded of why I feel the way I do about Kendra during an award
presentation at the January 12 City Council meeting.
Councilwoman Saunders believes academic achievements, and not just
athletic accomplishments, should also be honored by Council. A few
years ago, she contacted McCaskey High School to get a list of the
students with the top grades in the various academic disciplines.
She then invited them to Council where they were presented with a
certificate of achievement from her and the Mayor. She continued
that practice every year after that. Those students also deserve
Council recognition, and I promise you the academic award ceremony
Kendra started will continue without her.
Kendra also led Council through, often difficult, budget hearings
for the last four years. Last year in particular was quite
challenging, and several members from the public showed up to voice
their displeasure. During the hearing, our former Mayor posed a few
questions to our Department directors. The hearing was about to
turn into a political back and forth rehash of the recently decided
mayoral campaign when Councilwoman Saunders subtly and deftly
redirected the meeting back to the relevant budget topics at hand.
No one was interrupted or offended, and the hearing returned to an
efficient discussion of the budget.
Kendra retired from City Council, but she continues to serve the
City and Democratic Party as our City Committee Vice-Chair. And who
knows, maybe one day she’ll catch the bug again and decide to return
to political office. But if not, and in any event, my heartfelt
thanks to Kendra Saunders for her service on City Council, and my
best wishes for Todd Smith as he begins his service on City Council.
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