Before sitting down in his chair inside his new office at city hall, Matt Nicholson jumped into his black sport utility vehicle before sunrise.
Up since 5 a.m., the Seymour mayor was ready to get to work for his first full day on the job.
While Nicholson had fielded inquiries on New Year’s Day — including a humorous text message at 12:01 a.m. from former Seymour Mayor Craig Luedeman in regards to fireworks going off in his neighborhood — Thursday marked the first day in the office for the city’s new mayor.
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The Republican’s inaugural destination at 7 a.m., was to Water Pollution Control to speak with Assistant Superintendent Richard Steward.
Water Pollution Control is owned and managed by the city. The department is charged with the responsibility of the daily operation and maintenance of the city’s 8.7 million gallons per day plant, the 125 miles of sanitary sewer, 25 miles of storm sewer collection systems and 36 sanitary lift stations.
Nicholson hasn’t appointed a person to the position of superintendent yet, but the mayor said he plans on announcing his pick Monday.
After sitting down with Steward, Nicholson went to city hall.
With a small box of personal items in hand, he navigated his way to his office before debriefing on the day with Gloria Cullison, who is the administrative assistant to the mayor.
Over the course of her career, Cullison has worked with four Seymour mayors: John Burkhart, Jim Bullard, Craig Luedeman and Nicholson. Luedeman served as mayor from 2008 to 2019 before Nicholson was elected in November.
Cullison said she has encouraged Nicholson to not be afraid to ask questions and to have an open line of communication with other city staff.
“I always hope they will have open communication between all the departments,” Cullison said. “It’s good to have interaction between all the staff. I think it’s fun to see how all of that changes over time.”
While Cullison plans on retiring in the near future, she said she plans to help Nicholson out as much as she can until she leaves.
“I try to filter a lot of what comes in here,” Cullison said. “I try to get an idea of why (callers) want to see him and if it’s something I can do. A lot of the time, it’s something that a department head needs to do. For example, I will send them to the police department if it’s an issue for them.”
Nicholson was given his passwords and e-calendar before stopping by each department head’s office.
During his jaunt, he was stopped by numerous city employees congratulating him on the new job and discussing new ideas for the near future.
By 8:56 a.m., Nicholson was at the Seymour Fire Department on East Street, where Chief Brad Lucas had all of the firefighters together for an annual meeting.
Nicholson introduced himself to the firefighters and thanked them for their service before returning to his office to set up his computer and start on paperwork.
Thursday wasn’t the just the first day for Nicholson. At noon, the mayor swore in the city attorney and five of the city department heads at city hall’s council chambers.
The mayor returned to his office to work on various projects before visiting with workers from the parks and recreation department at the workshop at Gaiser Park at 3:15 p.m.
Nicholson praised the workers for their efforts over the years, including the recent holiday lights done at Crossroads Community Park and Steinker Platz, and said he looks forward to seeing continued progress in the future.
After the meeting, Nicholson returned to his office to wrap up the rest of his day.
One of the projects Nicholson looked over on his first day was a list of streets that need paved this year and the $1 million grant for which the city will apply for that work. He said he also looked at other projects that needed funding all the way up to 2025.
Nicholson said there were some things that surprised him on his first day, but that was to be expected.
“It’s one of those ‘Boom, here we are.’ I have spent four years preparing, but even with four years, there are still things you don’t know that you need to worry about,” he said. “Those are the things that hit you in the early days.”
Nicholson said he wanted to make sure to meet with as many city employees as possible on his first day.
“I want to create some calm within the departments,” he said. “I was out at DPW two weeks ago and met with pretty much everyone there. I met with three other departments and also met with a fifth department. I hope to be able to sit in with sixth (police department) in the near future.”
Overall, Nicholson felt the first day was a success.
“It’s great. I’m glad that it’s finally going,” he said. “I’ve spent eight weeks, roughly, as the mayor-elect, seeing little things that needed tweaked but not been able to do them. To walk in today and start some of that process is awesome.”
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2020 Seymour city staff
Mayor: Matt Nicholson
Clerk-treasurer: Darrin Boas
Fire chief: Brad Lucas
Building commissioner: Jeremy Gray
Parks and recreation director: Stacy Findley
Department of public works director: Chad Dixon
Human resources: Kris Hackman
Water Pollution Control: To be determined
City attorney: Christina Engleking
City engineer: Bernie Hauersperger
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