City governance nearly came to a grinding halt Thursday when Mayor Dave Cieslewicz briefly forgot how to spell his last name, temporarily rendering him unable to sign an important inclusionary zoning ordinance.
I started C-I-E like I always do, and then I suddenly thought of that rule about ‘I before E, except after C,' and I second-guessed myself,\ Cieslewicz said in a statement. ""So I tried C-E-I, but that didn't look right either. Then I had to stop and think about whether there should be an H after the C, and the whole thing sort of snowballed from there. And just when I thought I had the beginning part, I couldn't remember if there's a W in my name or a V. It sounds like it should be a V.""
Reports indicate after five minutes, the mayor sheepishly checked the spelling of his name on his driver's license and finished signing the ordinance.
""I thought it was really strange at first, him forgetting like that,"" said a member of the mayor's staff who wished to remain unnamed. ""But then I realized I don't know how to spell it either. I always cheat and look at the name on his letterhead. It really is a difficult name. That's Polish for you.""
A press release from the mayor's office stated that Cieslewicz has since ordered a rubber stamp with his signature on it to prevent a recurrence of the incident. This release comes after recent allegations that Cieslewicz forgets to spell his name at least once per week.
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