Represent
Weekly Update 9/24/2023 to 9/30/2023 #192
In your opinion what represents the City of Seymour? Before I explain why I ask this question though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
Congratulations, Seymour Fire Chief Brad Lucas, on retirement after 40 years of service to our community. While I have heard some stories from his early days as a firefighter, I have really gotten to know him during the last four years. He always had a way of asking for what his department needed and you knew the request was needed because he started his career when Seymour wasn’t in as good of a position financially as it is now. He knew when various pieces of equipment would be ready for replacement before they made it to the five-year capital plan. He was instrumental and patient on the new station on West 2nd Street. While I think I might have given him a gray hair or two as we negotiated a price with the builder, he understood there was a process. During construction, he made regular visits at the site to keep an eye on the project. He got to enjoy the fruits of his labor over the last year as he put the finishing touches on his career with SFD. He even made sure to move his duty picture to the recent retirees row on the wall at headquarters before he left Friday. Chief, thank you for all you have done for our community, and I look forward to working with you as you transition into your new role as a council member in January.
This week included several chances to speak about our community. From a visit with Beck at Radio 96.3 to 1st graders at Emerson Elementary, I was able to share the good news of all we have been working on. A Brookings Study presentation at the Seymour Noon Lions gave me a chance to share what 10 months worth of work from around 70 area residents looks like when it is bound together as the final report. For Leadership Jackson County and the 1st graders at Emerson, I tried to explain what my job is for the citizens. I always struggle with this answer because it is so many different things depending on the task at hand. With LJC though, we talked about Jon Gordan’s 10 rules from his book The Energy Bus. We chatted about those moments when we don’t realize we are making a lasting memory for someone. We even made sure to remember rule #10 and to enjoy the ride and have some fun. Thank you to everyone for the chance to share our story.
This week, the new mural at Burkart Blvd and Hwy 50 was wrapped up. Artist Kyle Mcintosh did a wonderful job of bringing together what he sees as representing the local arts here in not just Seymour, but Jackson County as a whole. Does it include every art form? No, because it only has so much space. This leads me to the question that was asked on his completed project post. “I thought it was supposed to represent Seymour?” It does, but maybe not what you think of when you try to quantify Seymour into one piece of art. Is Seymour only trains like the postcard mural in the downtown area? Is it only the World War II airfield history or Oktoberfest in the same mural? No, surely not because it must just be the two-story Rocker on West 2nd Street that represents Seymour. Could be any one of the many items located in the mural on North Chestnut Street’s mural of businesses come and gone over the decades. Seymour is home to over 21,000 residents and thousands more who have called it home at some point in their lives. Each one of us may very well answer what represents Seymour differently because of our interests and backgrounds. To see this visual representation of what the arts look like in our community, for me, is reassuring that the future is bright in so many different areas. I hope that this addition helps the arts community here in Seymour to feel at home. I will leave you with these words from Maya Angelou, “I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.”