Chapter 338: Official Appointments

Yara raised her hand with a smile. "I vote that we make Vinnie do it. He’s already got experience dealing with law enforcement, keeping streets safe and businesses active. He’s got personnel managing experience, and he understands that not all the rules can come from the top.

Keeping both the System users and the non-awakened working together on the police force will give us the balance of power that we need to enforce rules, and the representation that we need so that the non-awakened don’t rebel and feel that all enforcement is one-sided."

Her father stared at her with an unimpressed look, but Yara pointedly ignored him with a small smirk on her face.

It was sound logic, there was nobody in the room better than he was to choose as chief of police within Marimgar. Even if there were police officers, they were not from leadership positions, and hadn’t shown any signs of stepping up.

So, putting Vinnie in charge, and then looking for the most qualified people to assist was likely the best choice, in Yara’s opinion.

While Vinnie worked to formulate a rebuttal, the others in the room were nodding their agreement with Yara. It might seem like nepotism to be advocating for her own father in this situation, but she wasn’t wrong about the fact that he was well suited to the job.

"How did we end up with not a single senior bureaucrat from any nation?" One of the warriors asked.

"Technically, we have some. The security forces from the Arks are keeping the peace right now, thought they’re shorthanded as so many of them awakened. They have senior military officers and commanders in their ranks.

Actually, I believe that there are a few of the Ship Commanders among the team leaders.

Most of them focus more on getting daily tasks done and returning to work, as keeping the ships running smoothly is a full-time job, even after most of the people moved out. But they’re still awakened, and they’re trained Command Officers."

The warrior sighed. "You’ve got a point. I met with one of the logistics officers at the gym last week, and that man’s schedule is packed. He’s doing pretty well on the levels, he’s up to level nine now, and awakened just after he got to Marimgar, but all his time goes into managing the five thousand people still living and working on the Arks, plus the food distribution from the hydroponics bays."

Kalli nodded. "And, he’s not government, just military. I had assumed that at least one of their programs would work, as we’ve gotten survivors from many of the programs, including a few bunkers.

However, none of the leadership ever awakened.

I think that the System might have done it on purpose, in order to force humanity to adapt faster and change society to match the new needs. But we could have done with at least a few people who had experience leading at least a city council."

Yara laughed again and pointed at her father. "He’s still the closest we’ve got. How many times have you put development plans before the council, argued their merits, and run public consultations, before going a little further behind the scenes to make sure it happened?"

Vinnie looked a bit offended. "You make it sound like everything I did was shady. Most of my business plans and city development works were entirely above board. There’s no need to do anything shady if they’re not going to try to block it anyhow.

What’s good for business is good for the city, and most of the city councils understood that.

Technically, we’ve got a city council still. It’s the team leaders, which are now actually just the team leaders with the most experience, but what is that except a city council? We meet, propose ideas, try to solve problems before they get out of hand and have to go to the Coordinator.

Why not just make it a formal thing? Call it interim, as if there might be a change in the near future, and everyone will accept the formal titles. Then, we just need to pick a few useful and creative sorts who haven’t awakened and give them proper roles."

The issue is that everyone who was useful has likely awakened, unless they were crippled.

Kalli thought about that. She had seen awakened residents with one hand, or a limb missing, but none that were severely crippled.

"Alright, as the newly founded Marimgar City Council, I will leave it to you to pick your members, your advisors, and your leader. Then, you can deal with the issues, like founding a proper police force.

Unfortunately for Mister Rossi, he might have to do double duty until we find someone who can take on either his role as a council member or his new role as police chief," she decided.

"You heard the Coordinator. Congratulations on your promotion, Chief." Sanchez declared, loud enough that his voice carried.

Kalli smiled as Vinnie made a rude gesture at him, and then sent out a message to the city, informing them that a formal city council and chief of police had been chosen.

[If any resident, awakened or not, fit of mind and body, wishes to join the police force, please report to Police Chief Vincenzo Rossi, who will be hiring the first batch of officers. Those wishing to become council advisors will find the position applications on the app within the next 48 hours as the Council members organize their offices.]

The whole city got the message at the same time, and a sense of finality settled over them.

If the Coordinator said so, then it was true.

What Kalli didn’t realize was that she had just inadvertently appointed herself as the leader of the city, capable of appointing a City Council.

And nobody questioned it.

But in the private messages between the team leaders, there was another chat going. One that was determined to find the proper title for Kalli. Coordinator was just her class, even if it fit her role. Mayor didn’t feel grand enough, City Lord implied Nobility, which they were not ready to deal with the implications of, but Governor had a nice ring to it.

Especially when you said it with a nice pirate accent.