Belfast City Council, Mayor make amends

A week ago the Belfast City Council responded to the mayor's OpEd piece in a newspaper that called them, among other things, bigots.

They voted to stop her from speaking on behalf of the city and remove her from a coalition of other Maine mayors.

Tuesday night they all made amends.

The council added two special items to the agenda this evening.

First they allowed the mayor the chance to apologize for her words.

She said she was sharing her experience - and didn't expect, or fully consider the response they would garner.

In turn, the council voted unanimously to undo the two items they had passed last week.

The group seemed to be in agreement the discord on the council wasn't in the best interest of their constituents and their time could be put to better use.

"We just all need to accept one rule, one guideline," said councilor Neal Harkness. "The benefit and the welfare of the people of this city comes before anything else. It comes before our feelings, before our ego, before our entrenched defensive positions."

The council also agreed to pursue sensitivity training as a group.