Should Be
Weekly update 3/7 to 3/13 #59
Henry Ford once said, "Don't find fault, find a remedy." Remedy could possibly be the word of the week. I will try to explain more over the next few paragraphs.
Starting the week discussing the possibilities of upcoming events with the Health Department was a good boost to get the week moving. We had a healthy conversation while looking for best practices on how to be able to start allowing events to be able to happen. Keep in mind, the events from the organizations involved in the meeting are still weeks and months out, but it is nice to see that planning is happening.
During a recent Council meeting, members approved the first steps of establishing the Curb Appeal Program. What often happens is when one home on a block sees some small improvements, it leads to other small improvements. I doubt anyone can deny we have some troubled spots around our community. We hope that this program will encourage a remedy. Now before you pick the phone up and call to ask for an application, the final vote isn’t until March 22nd.
My recent visit with a department was Department of Public Works where I helped with the commercial recycling route. A few things jumped out as we traveled the city picking up cardboard, bottles, paper, tubs, and more. One of the first things I noticed was that it takes a few seconds to break down a cardboard box. That isn’t a problem unless you are parked on the street for a pick up and have dozens of cardboard boxes to break down. Businesses, please take those few seconds when you are warm and safe in your building and break those boxes down to help keep our crews safe when they are out in the weather, and possibly the street, picking it up. The other thing that jumped out at me was impatience. We know you are running late. Trust us, we don’t want to take any longer than we have to while we are at a stop. Sometimes those stops don’t get the luxury of being completely out of the way of others. If you take a deep breath and use caution, we will all make it home to our loved ones unharmed.
Back to finding a remedy. This week I had many meetings that were working on exactly that. Addressing topics across the board, we are always working on how to solve the problems Seymour faces. Sometimes solutions come from various departments in a variety of ways. Sometimes, even with many remedies, we can’t avoid unwanted results. As I stop to reflect on the many positives this week, I still naturally find myself looking at negatives as well. It is easy to find the faults that lead to those negatives. Sometimes they are recent, and sometimes they fall decades in the past. Either way they now fall on my shoulders to work on a remedy so future generations aren’t faced with a worse situation than we are in now. As I always do, I will continue to put in the late nights and early mornings to keep our community headed in the best direction possible. I want to double up on quotes for you this week. My oldest daughter said to me, “Everyone has opinions of how it should be done. It is your job to figure out what is right.” Thanks, kid, I needed that more today than you will ever know.