You want government to balance their budget, be fiscally sound, not spend money frivolously? Not spend money on areas that aren't absolutely critical so we can pay Fire & Police what they are worth? Who is going to make sure that happens? You, in a perfect world, in a less than perfect world very few of you will attend but it only takes a few determined souls to change the course of the not really best laid plans....
Civic duty isn't just about voting, it's about engaging...below is a link to the agenda
http://www.memphistn.gov/Portals/0/pdf_forms/ag07-15-14.pdf
There have been a lot of complaints recently about decisions made by the city council. If you want to change things, you have to do it yourself. Make it a habit to keep up with what they are doing. Your elected officials, believe it or not, are people too. I promise you will be enlightened, sometime entertained, and sometimes surprised by misconceptions you have about who is representing you.
P.S. When Benjamin Franklin walked out of the Constitutional Convention, a lady named Mrs. Powell asked him "What kind of government did you give us Sir?" His reply was "A Rebublic Madam, if YOU can keep it" . Note that he did not say a Republic Madam if your elected leaders can keep it or a Republic Madam if the media can keep it. Our form of government is a REPUBLIC and not what most people believe, a Democracy. Democracy is mob rule. We are not that. We vote on people to represent us but it is up to us to hold them accountable and you can't do that when you don't see them spending away your Police & Fire pay the rest of the year when you aren't there.
If you can't be there, you can watch online http://www.memphistn.gov/Government/CityCouncil/ArchivesofMeetings.aspx