Thankful

Weekly update #325 4/12/2026 to 4/18/2026

Sometimes, it is good to get out of the office and help with boots on the ground. Let me share some of just that and more from this past week serving as mayor of the best small town in America. 

The Parks and Recreation Board voted to name Kasting Park Diamond 1 Art “Juergy” Juergens Diamond at their last meeting. The topic was discussed for the last couple of meetings after Juergy passed away in January. He had served as a teacher and coach, and then, after retirement, he served many years on the Seymour School Board and had also been a part of the Seymour Parks and Recreation Board as well. Thank you, Juergy, for all the care you showed our community over the years in your many roles. Thank you to the Parks board members for the thoughtful consideration on the naming idea and for choosing a fitting memorial. 

Congratulations to Jackson County Special Olympics on a successful 3rd Annual Firetruck Pull. They raised over $12,000 to help keep Special Olympics free for our area athletes. This year, the winning team from Studio Health moved Engine 14 the length of the course in just under ten seconds. If you are interested, I am sure this event will be back for a fourth year in 2027, and hopefully, it will have over 20 teams giving it a go. I have already heard of a few new teams that are talking about it. To all participants, thank you for coming out on a rainy Saturday and giving it a go, and thank you for being a part of our Special Olympics community here in Jackson County. 

For over 30 years, Seymour has hosted a clean-up week called Make Seymour Shine. This is your chance to get the garage, basement, or whatever cleaned out and picked up for free, other than TVs. During Make Seymour Shine, we also come together as a city team to feed our Department of Public Works members and, hopefully, remind them that we appreciate them. Normally, Building Commissioner Gray and I take one day and grill out. This year, though, due to a doctor's appointment, I will give all the credit to the Building Commissioner, as I arrived to help towards the end of the process. The next day, I got a chance to ride on the back of a trash truck and throw some trash with a few of our DPW team members. We had the truck loaded down and ready to head to the landfill before lunch. For lunch on Wednesday, the Seymour Fire Department prepared breaded tenderloins. The Make Seymour Shine thank yous are many each year. Thank you to all the DPW team for jumping in where needed to make it happen. I know it is also not just one week, as some get anxious and put stuff out early, and others forget and put stuff out the week after. I appreciate all you do week after week. Thank you to everyone who helped with lunch this week. I know I only named a couple, and there were more that made it happen day after day. To everyone who put items out, thank you for your patience this past week, as it is never an easy undertaking to Make Seymour Shine. As I am feeling thankful for all the little blessings we have here in Seymour, I want to leave you with a quote from Henry Ward Beecher, "The thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings."