Chapter Seven of Seven

 Being There

An Autobiographical Account of My Life and Times at Glasgow EPB

William J. Ray

CHAPTER SEVEN - The End

So, I do have regrets, and my departure due to the unpopularity of doing my job by recommending actions to a board, based on the knowledge gained by my team, still stings...a lot. I spent the last 40 years head-over-heels in love with Glasgow. Being spurned by it is the unkindest cut of my life. I regret not being politically savvy enough to recognize the development of a new resentful and angry mentality of some in the community. Further, I am ashamed of being blindsided by the possibility that their discredited ideas and beliefs could be embraced by local elected officials. While this malady did not originate in Glasgow, I should have had my ear to the ground enough to predict its emergence. I am sorry for not setting a better example for my families and my supporters. In my position, it is not enough to talk the talk. I was supposed to make sure that my walk was successful, not just accurate. I cannot help but feel sorry for giving others the assurance that doing the right thing, would always save one from injustice; and that discovery would not always lead to implementation. I learned that being right can sometimes just not be enough. I can only hope that they learn from what I failed to accomplish and move forward with the resolve gained from experience.

I did not mean for this to be so long. But I left out a lot of stuff about those 40 years, so maybe this should become a book. I left out the part where my blood children were born, grew up in Glasgow, and went on to make me the proudest Father ever known. I also left out a lot about the 124 other children – the total that worked with me during those years. I consider them my family too, and I am really going to miss them. I am a committed introvert (true, I swear), so it has always been hard for me to let both of my families know just how dear they are to me. Way back in 1984, when I was new to the EPB job, I discovered it was much easier for me to communicate my feelings to the team in writing. To make those writings personal, I began observing everyone’s employment anniversary by putting my feelings about them into a hand-written note. I guess I chose that method because I am always moved by a hand-written note from a friend, so I hoped the work family would feel the same. During my tenure at EPB, I wrote a lot of those notes – an amount commensurate to the love I have for my team. They are important to me. I believe those notes were important to my precious team, and I am really going to miss that process of making sure they know how much I care for them. 

I do not want to fail to mention a couple of stalwart Board members who, in my mind, qualify for mention like those I have already bestowed upon several other community leaders I got to work with. John “Tag” Taylor and Libby Pruitt Short joined the Board when the battle was already raging. They do not have the years of experience of some of the citizens I mentioned above, but they were quick studies and refused to accept the popular beliefs about me, my team, the rate design we created, or the sustainability discoveries we made. They might have had the toughest job of all of those who came before them, and they did that job with conscience, study, and honor. I salute them.

As mentioned earlier, I was born in Glasgow and came back to Glasgow in 1983, mainly because of the rotten political environment that existed in Bowling Green at the time. I did not intend to stay in Glasgow a long time. Over the years, there were many offers of bigger jobs and equally bigger salaries, but I just never could come up with a complaint about my job at Glasgow EPB that was big enough to give me a reason to leave. I also loved the way Glasgow was growing and changing, and that I was a part of that transformation. All of the friends I have now, and hold dear, came as a result of my time at Glasgow EPB, and the gravity created by those friends held me to Glasgow. Most of all, I loved the team that I worked with, and I still do. While I still have not found a good reason to leave, it seems that my departure is the will of the majority. While I refused to grant their wish without a fight (I’m not throwing away my shot!), sheer numbers and the clear intention of a majority of Glasgow’s voters made it certain they would prevail. So, with this narrative I bid you adieu, with my heartfelt thanks for letting me spend my life trying to make the world, starting right here in Glasgow, better. I know those who befriended me in Glasgow made my world better.

It is neither the calendar, nor the clock, that urges me to depart. Rather, it is the compass – pointing out the direction to destinations I crave – ethics, justice, and respect for science, that directs me to journey away from Glasgow EPB. This narrative should answer a lot of questions about my tenure in Glasgow, but one still remains – what comes next? Tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?