I recently should have joined Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. in a trip to Japan to meet with current industry partners in the area and introduce Seymour to other companies that may be looking to expand.

While I was not looking forward to the travel time, I was looking forward to telling the world how great our community is and why they should expand in our area. I hope you enjoy catching up on the great moments from last week.

Every year, Emerson Elementary School second grade has a class election. My role is two-part, and I got to do the first part in-class lesson about government before spring break. After the election, my second part is to present the winner with a street sign donated by the city.

If you head over to the Emerson Elementary Facebook page, you can see the presentation video. I made sure to give President Jenna my number and remind her how important her new role is and to give me a call if she sees anything we need to work on. Congratulations, Jenna, on becoming Emerson second grade class president.

I sat in on the Seymour Park and Recreation board meeting this month to listen as they discussed plans to open Shields Park Pool. Well, I sat in until life threw me a curveball, and I had to go help get my middle daughter’s truck running and home. Before that, though, I listened as Dave and Chris Boggs along with Parks Director Stacy Findley presented all of the changes in protocol for the coming season.

After a lengthy discussion, the board voted unanimously to allow the pool to open May 30. That vote put the department into high gear to finish some projects like sneeze guards, hand sanitizer stations and some much-needed new paint.

The morning after council meetings, I sit down for an interview with local radio to update listeners on the meeting and just city items in general. This was the last chance for me to be on air with Bud Shippee as he is retiring at the end of the month. Bud, you will be missed, and I have enjoyed my visits with you. We did catch up on the recommendations to the itinerant merchant agreement, votes on a rezone and another round of compliances from local industry.

This week, I spent several hours with the Seymour Police Department learning about the narcotics division, a new role of a full-time training officer and what the captain’s role is.

The training officer’s role has been created to improve training practices for not only our department but to lead to improved training for departments in our area as a whole. Having someone that is focused full time on tracking the training that has happened as well as making sure we have the right officers attending the needed classes will do nothing but improve the service we offer our community.

Spending just a few hours with the narcotics guys was eye-opening. I applaud our guys for having both the patience and experience to work a case until it is a solid case.

Citizens, I hope you will realize, as I have over the years, that doesn’t mean you will call in your neighborhood dealer and the police will kick down the door tomorrow. I view making these calls more like putting an address on the radar for them. Oftentimes, they already know about it and add it to the case file, and sometimes, it is a new one that they start a file on.

Not that I think drug dealers take the time to read updates from a long-winded mayor, but if they do, heads up, you are probably already on the radar. Recovery is possible. Seek help if it is an addiction that drove you to dealing. If it is greed and the almighty dollar that has led you to dealing, then consider finding a day job before you end up serving time.

There you go, another week has passed, and I have shared some of what happens in my day-to-day life as mayor of beautiful Seymour.

Oscar Wilde said, “It’s beauty that captures your attention. Personality which captures your heart.” I hope the beauty that is around Seymour has captured your attention. It is not perfect, but it is our hometown, and we have the chance to shape its beauty for generations to come as Seymour’s personality captures your heart.