Politics · Advice & Questions · Oct 16

The election is over, but our community project still has two campaign camps

Politics

At the first hall-repair meeting after the local election, someone pushed the paint samples towards me and said, "Ask your winning team. Apparently they run everything now."

Half the volunteers supported the new councillor; others worked for the defeated candidate. We'd been raising money for the hall's repairs long before either campaign began. Now a suggestion about opening the hall on Sunday sounds like a political claim, and the person who holds the cupboard key has stopped replying.

I supported the winner, but I don't want to chair a victory meeting disguised as a repair meeting. The losing candidate's supporters also did most of the sanding. How do we get back to deciding about the hall without demanding that people stop feeling disappointed?

Discussion

2 community replies

@TheoInTransit

Don't ask everyone to be cheerful. Ask whether they still want to finish the repairs, and what they need to do that together. The hall existed before the campaign and will still need a cupboard key afterwards. A short practical agenda could give the next meeting a shared purpose without requiring a ceremony of reconciliation.

@maren17

The remark about your "winning team" might be expressing more than annoyance about the result. Has the new councillor actually acquired a role in the project, or are people assuming that because you supported them? Clarifying who can decide about Sunday opening would help. Don't tell people the project is independent if its arrangements have in fact changed.

The election is over, but our community project still has two campaign camps

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