Network
Weekly update #288 7/27/2025 to 8/2/2025
Some weeks, I have one main idea that I open and close with. Other weeks, I struggle to find any. This week, I have several and can’t decide which one to use. While I think about it though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
Congratulations to Indiana American Water Company on the ground breaking of their new $50 million dollar treatment plant here in Seymour. While they started the work already, they still chose to hold the event. As one person noted in conversation this is often a once in a lifetime event for those in a community. Here in Seymour they are replacing a 100 year old plant, and their lifespan is why this doesn’t happen very often. They will update the process and expand capacity when the work is finished and the plant goes online. They planned for future expansions in the event that the community grows over the next 100 years. Thank you INAWC for investing in Seymour and I look forward to seeing the finished project at the ribbon cutting.
This week, my wife and I had a chance to enjoy an evening of music at the Southern Indiana Center for the Arts when Sydney Sleadd and the Swarm played during Friday Night Live. The weather was perfect, and the artwork on display as you listened made for a wonderful evening. The crowd was also one of the larger I have seen for awhile at the event with fans of all ages tapping along. Thank you to the artists for sharing your talents, and thank you to the SICA board for all your hard work keeping the SICA Friday Night Live going all these years. Hit up their Facebook page to see who is playing next Friday.
Indiana has 122 mayors, and about 74% of them are members of the Indiana Conference of Mayors. This past week, they came together for the ICOM Annual meeting in Elkhart. Sessions ranged from a chance to sit down with Governor Braun and other state officials to discuss the effects of SEA-1 on municipalities in the coming years as well as the hopes the group has for corrections in the 2026 session that might help resolve some of the issues to Federal matters related to the tariffs and so much more. As happens each year, I can’t help but come home with a dozen or more items from sessions and from table and hallway conversations between sessions. I know several staff members are expecting the Monday morning follow-ups to get different items rolling. I am also humbled each year as I speak to other mayors and they share how different ideas I have shared over the years are being implemented in their communities. Several have adopted my department visits and can be seen on the back of trash trucks, running vac trucks, and rolling on paint with their crews. One went as far as to share that he has been keeping a log of his visits so he can share with new mayors in the future when the opportunity arises. With only 122 mayors here in Indiana, you can imagine that it is pretty easy to pick up the phone and learn about something they have recently tackled and, at the same time, share support as they face challenges others have previously tackled. Thank you ICOM, Elkhart, and Mayor Rod for a great annual meeting. I look forward to seeing what new items grow from it here in Seymour.
Well, I guess it is time to wrap up this weekly update, and I still can’t decide which one idea I want to focus on. How about I leave them all for future updates and just leave you with a quote about how giving to your network benefits all involved from Earl G. Graves, "What makes networking work is that it sets up win-win situations in which all parties involved get to take something home. Networking is a sharing process. Until you understand that, you won't have much of a network."