Notable during last night's City Council meeting were the words not spoken.
For all the talk in the community the past few weeks about eliminating the Batavia's assistant city manager position, not a single council member raised the issue when given the chance.
The council passed five budget amendments, all recommended by City Manager Jason Molino, eliminating $53,000 from the spending plan. But after those five motions passed and Council President Brooks Hawley asked if members of the council had any other amendments to offer, the panel was silent until Councilwoman Rose Mary Christian piped up.
"What's the use to raise an amendment if you won't compromise over here?" Christian asked.
After the meeting, Christian expressed frustration that she believes residents want more spending cuts but she doesn't feel anybody is listening to her pleas.
"It really bothers me," Christian said. "There are a lot of people out there who are having a difficult time living."
While there has also been a move afoot to eliminate spending for Vibrant Batavia, since that expenditure is not part of the budget, it will be addressed as a separate resolution at a future council meeting.
The assistant city manager position, however, is part of the budget.
Christian said she would certainly support eliminating the position, but she said she didn't make a motion because she believes only three other council members would vote with her, giving such a motion no chance of passing.
"I didn't bring it up, you're right," Christian said. "What's the use?"
Councilman Eugene Jankowski said after the meeting he didn't bring it up because he's not ready to eliminate the job.
"I made the motion last year not to put it in the budget and it was voted down," Jankowski said. "This year I've seen some of the good work that she's done and I personally feel it's premature to just fire her after only a few months. I'm still keeping an eye on it to see how it's going to pan out."
Jankowski said he doesn't sense a strong sentiment from fellow council members for eliminating the assistant city manager position.
As for Vibrant Batavia, Jankowski said he intends to bring a motion reduce the proposed $45,000 allocation, but not cut it out completely.
He wants a compromise position, he said, because some constituents feel passionately that no more money should be spent on Vibrant Batavia and others are just as passionate in their support of Vibrant Batavia.
He wants to see Vibrant Batavia stand on its own and would like to find a mechanism to make that possible.
He said he doesn't know what the timetable would be to wean Vibrant Batavia off of city support.
"If it's impossible in 12 months, then I want to see what the plan is," Jankowski said. "If it's a reasonable plan and it looks viable and everybody in the community knows what it is and knows when that time is going to end, then it's up to them to decide whether they accept it or not."
He also said that partial funding wouldn't close the door to the council providing more assistance if Vibrant Batavia found it needed more time to stand on its own after making a verifiable and honest effort to be self-sufficient.