Five Conversations
Weekly Update #219 3/31/2024 to 4/6/2024
Keeping a positive perspective is a major part of my role serving as mayor, and several conversations this week made that hard to do while others helped me remember how many positives we have going for our community. Before that though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of Seymour.
This week, the Coloring My Town book was released for 2024. A few years ago, I was asked to participate in the “What I like about Seymour” essay contest. This is open to area fifth graders in the community. It is always a tough decision to pick a winner, and this year, Eleanor Bane from the Intermediate School wrote a wonderful essay reminding us of how great our community is. Ask your fifth graders if they have the new book yet and check out page 73 if you want to see what Miss Bane found for her essay. Thank you to the team at Coloring My Town for creating such a fun way for our kids, young and old, to learn from and enjoy each year.
Accelerate Indiana Municipalities held the Mayors Institute this week where around 75 of Indiana’s mayors were able to come together to share ideas and learn from one another. Topics ranged from taxes to housing, immigration to public safety, and made for several good conversations. This was also my second time to be a presenter, and I had someone share with me that they were implementing their own version of our Curb Appeal Program that I had previously presented on. This time, I gave a presentation related to my work days with our departments. Hopefully, someone walks away with new ideas as often happens for me as I listen to others share during presentations. Thank you, AIM, for the chance to learn and grow for our communities via the Mayors Institute and other sessions each year.
I had a chance to sit down with Staff Sergeant Dooling from the United States Marine Corps. We had crossed paths recently at an event and didn’t take long to realize the betterment of our youth was a topic we both cared about, and we committed to sitting down soon. Our discussion this week involved several areas, but ultimately focused on the future. Thank you, Staff Sergeant Dooling, for a good productive meeting. I look forward to seeing what grows out of seeds planted.
This week, I had a chance to listen as American citizens shared concerns for our community. Five conversations in particular stick in my mind because of fear and safety after watching area residents’ actions at the last Common Council meeting and the social media negativity that followed. One relatively new business owner wondering if they chose the right community to open up shop. A potential customer who is now questioning making a purchase from an area business. Last were conversations with three American citizens who are first, second, and third-generation immigrants with very different perspectives. I have shared the general impressions from two already, but to hear a first-generation American citizen share how the meeting made them fear for their safety was unsettling to me. To hear a second-generation American citizen talk about how the actions of an elected official would not allow them to vote for this candidate again in the future. Finally, to hear the third generation American citizen worry for their parents and grandparents made my heart sink. I am not sure if I was able to help them feel better about what they had seen online and via the newspaper. Immigration is not a simple problem to solve, and I know many have concerns from both sides. I would encourage everyone to think about constructive solutions because, as I heard this week during the Mayors Institute, we are not the only community facing this problem, but we are currently in the spotlight with many viewing our community in a negative way. I will leave you with a quote today from Martin Luther King Jr, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."