I recently heard from a newly elected member of a public board in the area who said the experience so far had been “disheartening.”

Now I don’t want to out this person, but hearing that sentiment made me a little disheartened, if not too surprised.

Having covered various councils, commissions and other types of boards in Georgia, Colorado and Wyoming since early last decade, I’ve seen many times new members of a board becoming disheartened soon after smiling enthusiastically while holding a hand up to take the oath.

It’s a shame, as in most cases these are volunteer or nearly volunteer positions, taken by people who saw a need and chose to put themselves through an often laborious election season. They were also voted into office, obviously, by a sizable group of voters who clearly agreed with this candidate’s goals.

In other words, these new board members should be respected, their points heard, even if, and especially if, they’re bringing up new issues or taking another side of an issue that had previously been settled.

I think sometimes established board members sometimes think that a board that airs its disagreements too openly is an example of a dysfunctional board. I disagree. I covered the Cody school board back in 2018-2019 when the members were discussing two big issues — how best to deal with complaints about library books and whether or not to allow trained teachers to be armed at schools. I sat through some long meetings and I heard some pretty exhaustive arguments. But they were discussing serious issues and, I think, that makes lengthy discussions and sometimes loud arguing worth it.

Because it’s all right to disagree. In fact, in my opinion the healthiest boards are good at airing their disagreements publicly even when they have the ability to legally do so privately.

Don’t forget, you are our representatives and we want you to represent the views of all of your constituents and therefore all of the board members we’ve elected.