Political Middle
Weekly update #261 1/19/2025 to 1/25/2025
Four years ago, as we headed into a new presidential administration, I referenced a Mark Knopfler song he wrote as George W. Bush took office. Changing the middle few paragraphs and some names and I could reuse it today. Before that though, I will share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
I had a chance to look back on 2024 and forward into 2025 and beyond this week with the Jackson County Young Professionals. I updated them on all the usual projects and some they didn’t know about. When asked how they can help, I encouraged them to be involved. Oftentimes, the faces around the table on boards and commissions are the same. Stepping up and getting involved brings new faces and often new ideas to the conversation. I shared with them how the city of Seymour has become a recognized Tree City, and we now have thousands of yellow tulips to promote mental health because of new ideas brought to us by high school students. Thank you to JCYP for the chance to speak and share some of our community's stories.
This week, I participated with Water Pollution Control during one of their industrial permitting meetings that I mentioned a few weekly updates ago. As they discussed various parts of the permit, I found myself making a list of things that I wanted to look up and learn a little more about. All in all, I would say the conversation went well with some needed adjustments acknowledged. While on the topic of WPC let me share some of their work inside the plant to help delay future rate increases as much as possible. The next scheduled rate review isn’t for a few years, but today’s work will play a part in reducing energy usage and slowing algae growth. A new Ultra Violet system and belt presses should reduce electric consumption, and the new launder covers on the clarifiers will cut back on algae growth leading to less maintenance in the future. Thank you to all our permitted industrial users for their patience as we work our way through this review process, and thank you to the team at WPC for looking to the future with the efforts to control costs.
One of this week's meetings was to pitch $26.6 million worth of road projects to the Indiana Department of Transportation. If selected the construction year should be 2030. We won’t know for several months if we are selected for all four, one or two, or possibly none of the proposals, but we have to try to get into the rotation when the cycle opens. Thank you to the city team for all their work preparing, and thank you to INDOT for the chance to present our proposal.
That Mark Knopfler song I referenced earlier was “Don’t Crash the Ambulance” from the Shangri-la album. Go give it a listen if you like. Each time a new president takes office, the pattern seems to be the same. Some panic, some cuss, some cheer, and in the end, we won’t know what the next four years looked like until they have passed. Then as now, I will continue to do what I have already done before in this update and that is to tell you to get involved. If you like something help make more of it. If you dislike something work to change it. Most of us live somewhere in the political middle, and when we all come together and keep working on what moves us, the world, or at least our little part of it, moves toward a better tomorrow. Today, I will leave you with a Mark Knopfler quote, "Sometimes you're the windshield; sometimes you're the bug.”