Who'd have thunk?

Sure, we've come to expect intramural fighting within the Des Moines Council, but who figured there would be just one disputed council race in Burien and all-out warfare in SeaTac?

Last election, the SeaTac incumbents all ran unopposed.

But, as of this writing, not only is one council race within the recount margin, SeaTacers (SeaTacites?) aren't even sure what form of government they will have.

The vote on a proposition to change from a city manager/council form of government to an elected mayor is very close.

It looked like the elected mayor proponents had the momentum but robo-calls by current Mayor Ralph Shape right before the election may have shifted the balance.

SeaTac staffers may be kicking themselves now that they didn't take citizen Earl Gipson's complaints about flooding in his neighborhood more seriously.

Gipson became disenchanted with city bureaucracy, started digging into other controversies and tapped into long simmering complaints about city staffers.

This is actually the third time that the elected mayor proposal has been on the SeaTac ballot.

But last time, Frank Hughes, who was in ill health and kind of crotchety, spearheaded the effort.

Gipson, on the other hand, is energetic and always organizing.

A number of city actions came together to fan the flames:

A proposed hotel was allowed to share Angle Lake Park's public entrance.

The state Public Disclosure Commission fined the city for using public funds to push a levy request.

Planners nearly got through an ordinance that would have regulated removal of trees on large single-family lots.

Costs ran way over budget on a fire station construction project managed for the city by King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson's husband.

Council members made a tin-eared decision to appoint another Angle Lake resident to the council. That means five of the seven lawmakers live in one small section of the city.

With the citizen-sovereignty signs, a little of the national Tea-Bagger vibe also entered into the mix. At least, they didn't contend that suspended city manager Craig Ward had actually been born in Kenya. But, even worse, they accused him of living in Tacoma.

It's an interesting question. Should the chief executive live in the community?

The Highline School District requires its superintendent to live within the district. Former superintendent Joe McGeehan faced grumbling that he was favoring his Normandy Park neighbors when he slightly altered his school boundary recommendations.

A resident chief executive may relate better to his city but does he open himself up to complaints of favoritism?

In SeaTac, the longest simmering complaints are about the planning department.

The delicate dance between a developer's attorneys and city planners is one of the most entertaining features of a SeaTac council meeting.

It's Brooks Brothers and Rolex vs. J.C. Penney and Timex as the two sides bicker over the city's requirements.

But, of course, the requirements are never really the requirements.

It's sort of like the price of Dockers. If you are paying full price for Dockers, you are shopping during the two weeks of the year they are not on sale.

The regulations dance is over how far the city will bend the codes in exchange for mitigation by the developer-- usually in the form of landscaping or added decorative elements.

I was amused when, during the tree ordinance debate, an audience member suggested a developer would not remove a critically situated tree unless absolutely necessary.

Developers are attempting to develop a project for the least amount of money with the most amount of profit. In our capitalistic system, there is nothing wrong with that.

And when partnering with government, the goal is to privatize the profit and socialize the risk.

Cutting in on the dance are the consultants. If "plastics" was the field for enterprising young people to get into in the 1960s, consulting is the ticket today.

With their idealized artist's renderings and questionable projections, they seduce lawmakers with visions of the perfect shining city that their municipality can become.

Of course, the consultants don't have to secure a bank loan in this economy. They just have to get the next consulting contract.

So the lawmakers’ job is to balance the promise of quick tax revenues with their long-range vision for the city. There is nothing wrong with that, either.