No Remote
Weekly update 5/29/2022 to 6/4/2022 #123
Even though the TV remote was a wonderful invention did it have an adverse effect on us all? Before I explore this thought though, let me share some of my recent week serving as mayor of the best smalltown in America.
During the 2nd John Burkhart Memorial Blood Drive, members of the community had a chance to donate and help fill the local blood supply. Thank you to everyone that took the time to make a donation to Versiti.
I had a chance to share several items during a visit from the Lt. Governor's office. Some of the topics included housing of all styles along with second-story residential in the downtown area. I was able to share an update from our recovery team who is in the early stages of identifying our current assets and needs and building connections on how we fill those needs in the future. While we had many more topics we covered, the last one I will share with you is part of our conversation about our Curb Appeal Program. Since I pitched the idea to Council in 2021, we have dedicated a little over $8200 to Seymour residents which has helped with over $65,000 in completed projects like sidewalks, windows, and various other areas visible from the roadway.
This past week I also had a chance to jump in and work alongside our city team on a couple of park-related projects. Now that the baskets for the back nine holes of disc golf have been ordered, the question becomes where to place them. We are currently exploring design ideas on how to best update the course from nine to eighteen holes, and we spent some time this week bush-hogging the area to best see what we have to work with. We also took some time to explore other courses around the region to see what we could learn about using the woods and other ways to improve our facilities. Thank you to all the sponsors who are giving us a chance to grow the course.
I guess it is time to click that channel button and get back to that thought about remote controls. While it is great to just be able to flip through the channels, I believe we run the risk of not remembering that all of life doesn’t work that way. Well, at least I know I forget sometimes. A few extra pounds, a few less miles on the bike, and even a few higher points on the old blood pressure all could be connected together. A few more miles on the bike could reduce the other two, but I don’t do a good job of taking care of myself as I get distracted by the day-to-day of my life. I can’t just click the remote on this one and not put the work in to get back on track. While I am on the topic of remote control, I have gotten a few anonymous letters over my time as an elected official. To be completely honest I struggle with the anonymous part because if you don’t feel strongly enough to put your name on it, do you really feel strongly about it at all? After giving them a read though, I will go through my usual steps of exploring the complaint. Some steps, though, that get skipped are follow-up questions for clarity, reaching back out to the author to let them know what we found, and being able to answer questions for the person with the concern. One such letter that sticks in my head let me know “I must fire employee." The only problem was that the person they wanted to be fired does not work for the city. Had the person felt strongly enough to sign their letter, I could have shared this detail with them. This is one of those moments that I believe we have to be careful not to let that remote control mentality get in our way. These are just a couple of examples where I think the great invention of the remote control might be skewing our day-to-day lives. Life changes or wanting to change the world around us, we can't click the buttons on a remote and expect the world to change. We have to make them ourselves or at least be willing to stand beside the changes we want to see happen because as author Mark Cooper said, "Life has no remote; get up and change it yourself."