Birdie

Weekly update #335 6/21/26 to 6/27/26

“You can’t birdie them all if you don’t birdie the first one” is a phrase that I hear when we play a charity golf scramble. Before that though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.

Wednesday night we kicked off the 2026 Special Olympics Softball season with the first practice. This year, we have enough players to field teams in two divisions. The first is a designated pitcher division, and the second is a unified team with players and volunteers taking the field. I plan on being one of the several coaches helping with the program as I have done for several years now. We are a few weeks out from our first game, but I am sure, like every year, skills will increase quickly and the athletes will be up for the challenge and come together as a team quickly. Thank you to everyone who has signed up this season. I look forward to another fun season.

This past week, I met with the Firefighters Union to start negotiations for the 2027 contract. Last week I met with the Fraternal Order of Police about theirs. This process will take several months, not because we are far apart on any given topic, but for a few other reasons. One, we are often waiting on the first draft of the budget to get back, and we just received it a few days ago. The second draft is already adjusted as we work forward. Then with several schedules to be included, we usually wait about a month between meetings putting the next round late in July. Then we try to have everything sorted out by fall with votes from both before we bring it to the Board of Public Works and Safety sometime in the fourth quarter getting us set for 2027. To both bargaining committees, thank you for all your work on this. I know it takes time to prepare. To the members of both, thank you for taking time to join the meetings on your end and sharing your thoughts with the committees so they can bring them to the table for discussion. 

Time to get back to shooting a birdie on the first hole of a golf scramble. I hear the quote from earlier at all three or four rounds I play each year. Sometimes, it is as we shoot one less stroke or get a birdie on the first hole. Other times, it is after we shoot par on the first hole and know that we won’t birdie everyone that round. Either way, we have begun the round to help raise funds for a worthwhile cause in our community. I share this to bring up recent events like Cars and Guitars, which has been around for over 20 years with a year off for road construction but made a return yesterday. This event would not have happened if not for someone all those years ago deciding to take charge and organize the event. The handicap accessible playgrounds they have helped build would not be here if not for them deciding to have that first event. Another event yesterday was the Boys and Girls Club Youth Triathlon, which is in its 13th year. The same thing can be said here that it took a group of dedicated volunteers to start the event and get us here over a decade later. The faces have changed on both of these events, but the spirit is still the same, helping raise funds for their dedicated causes. Today, I encourage you to find your passion and go get involved with an existing event or find your flock of friends who are interested and get started planning your first event so you can look back in the 2030s and realize all the good you have done. I will leave you with the starting quote today from JG, “You can’t birdie them all if you don’t birdie the first one.”