So Pleasant
Weekly update #259 1/5/2025 to 1/11/2025
A few hundred years ago, poet Anne Bradstreet penned the following, "If we had not winter, the spring would not be so pleasant.” Before I share the rest of this quote let me share some of this snowy week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
Sunday morning, the snow kicked off in our area leading into a week of challenges. A major snow event is always a challenge. As I shared last week, plans are laid, but until the storm starts, you are waiting to see how the exact execution will happen. With double-digit snowfall, we had a good chance to test and adapt plans as well as testing equipment along the way. I would love to say all was well with no hiccups, but as we all know, that is rarely the case. The Department of Public Works took on the largest portion of the challenge working on over 100 miles of roadways for several days and nights. Parks and Recreation takes on the task of clearing city-owned parking lots. Water Pollution Control joined in as they have before in major snow events and helped clear the downtown piles. As many residents have noted with a call, email, message, or random conversation, the team did a wonderful job for what they were dealing with. They tackled arterial streets first followed by primary routes. They were able to clear around the town and around the schools enough to get the kids back from e-learning and in-person by Thursday. All for another couple of inches to hit on Friday and start the process all over again. Thank you to everyone this week who worked long hours and spent more time than usual away from their families battling one of this year's snow storms.
Snow storms this week are not the only thing that could be classified as a double shot as I had more than one department visit and spent time removing snow for Parks and Recreation and a morning with the Department of Public Works. Every time I am out with a department, I learn something, and this week was no different. To our team members who take time to teach not only me but one another, I say thank you.
This week saw a new hiring process to fill a couple of open spots with the Seymour Police Department. Thirty-nine submitted paperwork to take the agility test. For various reasons, only 23 made it to the agility testing on Saturday morning. After agility was complete, 18 were invited to the station at noon to take the written test. After test results are compiled, several will work their way through background checks and interviews, and just a few will make their way to public safety medical, before getting a job offer and being sworn in as Seymour’s newest officers. Law enforcement is not an easy job and to see so many taking an interest in it again is very refreshing. To all the officers who came out to help, thank you. To all the applicants, good luck on this process and any others you might be in as well.
The next line of Anne Bradstreet’s quote is “if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” If you find yourself in the prosperity stage at the moment, enjoy it. If you are facing adversity at the moment, I hope you can remember that, like winter, it won’t last forever, and when the days get longer, the warmth will be welcome and pleasant. I will simply leave you with Miss Bradstreet's full quote this week, "If we had not winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."