Planning
Weekly Update #221 4/14/2024 to 4/20/2024
How far ahead are you planning? Is it hours, weeks, or even years ahead? Before I venture into the future though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
Congratulations to Emerson Elementary Second Grade President Opal on her recent election. As I presented her with her street sign, I took the chance to talk about service to your community with the class and how they can be involved and kind while trying to better the world around them. I also took the chance to answer questions about what it is like to serve as mayor and even some about living here in Seymour my entire life. Thank you to the teachers for allowing me to be involved in this unit each year and helping our future leaders prepare for tomorrow.
This week was my second Local Technical Assistance Program Advisory Board meeting. I was asked to replace former Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell as he stepped off the board as a voting member at the start of the year. As we met, we were updated on the recent Road School and the positive and negative feedback as planning has already started for next year's event. We also had a chance to learn about some potential funding coming along later this year to help improve safety on our Indiana roadways. Thank you to Accelerate Indiana Municipalities for the chance to not only serve my community, but the state as a whole as a member of the LTAP Advisory Board.
Congratulations to 13th Floor Music on what looked like another successful Record Store Day. As I dropped a chair off to my wife, who got in line two hours early, it looked like you had a good line waiting a few hours before the doors opened for business. In a shop-at-your-fingertips era, it isn’t very often that you see people lined up down the sidewalk.
Back in 2020, the Parks and Recreation Department started the process of updating their five year master plan. This plan is a requirement to help them be allowed Department of Natural Resources grant funding and also a good chance to collect ideas from community members and board members alike. They identified the need to be watchful for future parks land as the community grows. This allows them to fill the gaps and expand the trails system when the chances are available. The Master Plan even identified the need to explore the possibility of an indoor recreational facility. All of these items, as well as the need to update the master plan due to having completed so much of it, were discussed at the Park Board meeting this past week. The discussion revolved around the department's inability to work on these items due to the recent passing of the resolution stopping city work on anything connected to the Burkart Opportunity Zone. I would encourage you to read the full article of the meeting in The Tribune as Erika Malone did a good job reporting the happenings of the meeting. The good thing is the department has items to work on as the issues around the resolution are sorted out. Today, I will leave you with a quote from Pericles, "What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others."