My New Year’s Resolution is to make better use of bullet points. I find they organize information in easy to digest bits, and more importantly, they keep me from having to come up with awkward segues between unrelated ideas.

1. Blind item! What mustachioed managing news editor for a weekly Portland newspaper made a rare appearance at this morning’s city council session, and then blogged about it, calling it “sleepy”? I won’t say who it was, but I’ll offer a little unsolicited tip: The key to covering city hall is knowing when you need to be there, and when you’re better off sleeping in. This morning was the latter. Nuts for you, dude.

2. Commissioner Randy Leonard was named council president this morning, after the re-swearing-in ceremonies for Erik Sten, Dan Saltzman, and auditor Gary Blackmer. That’s quite an honor! Or it would be, if the title wasn’t passed along every six months in a predetermined cycle. But still! Council President! That’s got a real ring to it. And you should see the perks! I hear that if you’re council president, you get to be first in line for beer at city hall’s First Thursdays. That, and you get to play mayor when the real mayor is out of town. Next vacation Potter takes, I’m expecting free fire station pole rides for every Portlander. Remember that, Leonard.

3. Speaking of First Thursdays and awkward segues—This month, city hall is hosting an exhibit called “Voices and Vision: A Gulf Coast Visual Arts Perspective” from an organization called From the Bottoms Up. It’s billed as a “unique collaboration focusing on art work and sustainable building practices in Portland and the New Orleans area.” That may sound confusing, but wait till you get a peek at this awesome piece I saw in Adams’ office this morning—it’s like a totally psychedelic take on the Virgin Mary holding Jesus or something. But, like, totally trippy.

4. January 18 is going to be a helluva day for local political drama. That’s the day the charter review commission is expected to present its final recommendations on changing the city’s form of government and reining in the Portland Development Commission. So far, the mayor only has support from Dan Saltzman on sending those recommendations to Portland voters. This will be the fight of the year.

Also on that day, Adams is introducing his plan to reform the city’s Business License Fee, which will lower or eliminate taxes for small businesses. It’s good news for small business, but it will take around $3 million of precious general fund money. So in the meantime, Potter has convened a work session for this Tuesday morning, in which the Office of Management and Finance will deliver a little refresher course for the commissioners about where the city’s money comes from, how much of it is tied up in dedicated services, and why it is that the biggest battles are waged over a relatively microscopic portion of the city’s budget. No coincidence—that $3 million that Adams wants to spend could trigger a disproportionately large fight.

5. The mayor’s office is now taking nominations for the Immigrant and Refugee Task Force. I nominate Jack Bogdanski.