New Idea

Weekly Update 7/16/2023 to 7/22/2023 #182

Where does an idea come from? Before I explore this question though, let me share some of my week serving as the mayor of the best smalltown in America.

This past week, we swore in three new police officers. Two are coming out of our dispatch center and one new hire. I look forward to watching them grow as officers over the years as they learn new skills and how better to serve and protect our community. One will head into field training as he already has law enforcement experience while the other two will head to pre-basic to get the fundamentals under their belt before they start working with their field training officer while they wait to go to the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy later this year. When they return from the academy, they will go back to working with a field training officer before proving themselves proficient and being able to work alone with just an officer shadowing their calls. Then when that phase is complete, they will move on to working some calls solo. At that point, as all our officers have to do, they will be required to complete monthly and annual training on various topics from firearms to emergency vehicle operations, domestic violence to driving under the influence. If you are looking for a career field where you can continue to learn and grow, reach out as the next hiring process is just around the corner. Congratulations to new officers Derek Couch, Billy Dishman, and Ryan Baker on joining the force. 

This week was a busy week for me with the Indiana Conference of Mayors, ICOM, and I had to miss my usual Wednesday morning visit with a department. I did, however, find a few hours to go work with the Department of Public Works and learn some of the finer points of painting roads while we worked on some crosswalks. Who knew such a subtle change in the surface would make such a big difference in how straight the line went down on the roadway? If you are walking in the Walnut Street corridor and notice a line or two that may wave at you, don’t hesitate to blame me. It isn’t as easy as it looks, but I slowly improved over the afternoon and, as always, was glad to help and probably slow down the process for the crew. Keep up the good work, everyone, and thank you for making our community look better a little at a time.

So where does an idea come from? During the ICOM meeting, I walked away with a whole page of to-do items on my list. Things to follow up on when it comes to things like funding sources, policy updates, changes at the Mayor’s Youth Council, and so many more. One, however, that I hope I can get off the ground could have a huge impact on our community and simply came from overhearing a sentence in the hallway. For a community, ideas come from many places and many faces. Later this year, we will be releasing information on Seymour’s Idea Summitt where we want to hear your ideas. Start planning now because it will be a two-step process and the better you have planned ahead of time the better chance you will have to be selected for round two. After applications are reviewed, a handful will be invited to make a public presentation in hopes of helping your idea gain traction and finding like-minded supporters to help see it become a reality. I look forward to seeing what our community members have in mind on how to make our little part of the world a better place and how we can help get those ideas to turn into reality. I hope Seymour’s Idea Summit proves Albert Einstein correct when he said, "Creativity is contagious. Pass it on."

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