Ooey Gooey
Weekly update #339 7/19/2026 to 7/25/2026
The Jiffy is a peanut butter bacon cheeseburger, and it was pretty good. Before that though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
During the Board of Works and Public Safety meeting this week, we heard requests related to dumpster placement for a downtown building remodel, sewer adjustments related to summer pool fills, and new food truck licenses as well as renewals of existing ones. We also heard requests from food trucks to use the Farmers Market lot through the week often at lunchtime. All these items come to BOW, and we have to make sure they meet the criteria set forth in city code. Some examples are making sure food trucks have passed inspection by Seymour Fire Department and have insurance. When it comes to a dumpster, we have to make sure it will be placed in a safe area for both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Again, these are just a few of the items considered as BOW meets twice a month. Thank you to the members of this board, and so many more, that meet regularly to do their business.
The annual meeting of the Indiana Conference of Mayors, ICOM, met this week in Greensburg. This is a chance for mayors and municipal leaders to discuss best practices and help improve Indiana at its base with cities and towns. This year, our intern, Brandon, joined me, and I have to give him credit for sitting through one of the most brutal days of sessions in my over ten years as an elected official. The day started with a session on assessment where we learned that a long standing reduction had been removed in the last few years. This was followed with a session related to stellar communities and Greensburg's application several years ago. The next two sessions were related to local income tax, LIT, and how Senate Enrolled Act 1 in 2025 would lead to upcoming changes. Changes like property tax reductions, which 56% of Indiana property owners saw for 2026. How LIT will come into play to try to make up for these losses in revenue over the next several years. Follow those sessions with the topic of insurance and wrap up the day with a presentation from the director of field operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and you had a long eight hours of sessions. The drive back and forth was a good chance to discuss the day's topics a little more. Thank you, ICOM, for the chance to learn. Thank you, Mayor Marsh and Greensburg, for hosting this year. Lastly, thank you, Brandon, for attending and for the good conversations.
Well back to that ooey gooey peanut butter bacon cheeseburger that I opened with. Some instantly decided that it was not for them. Others mouths started to water. Either response is perfectly fine by me because to each their own. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nobody can bring you peace but yourself." Maybe realizing we all have our own tastes is one small step to bringing our own peace.