In a recent conversation, someone said Seymour is “a city with so much potential.”

Andrew, I agree and have felt this way for many years. First, we should talk about what happened over the last few days.

We recently swore in Seymour’s newest police officer. Officer Jay is Seymour badge No. 118 and will start his training soon. Welcome to the Seymour Police Department, sir.

The city council met recently and approved 3% raises for city employees. Another item on the agenda was a resolution related to the economic development plan for Seymour.

At any given time, Seymour has plans for various topics reviewed. I knew coming into 2020 this was the plan I wanted to review and amend for this year.

We left all of the major pieces in place for the EDP. Industrial, education and downtown are still front and center for the future growth. We also discovered from the conversations with many different people in the community that quality of life was now a needed piece of the puzzle.

Thank you to everyone who took time out of your schedule over the last several months to meet with Mr. Shaver on this project. Our future is full of potential because of caring citizens like you.

Thanksgiving looked different for many this year. I am sure many cooked their first turkey or ham. Some baked their own pumpkin pie. For some even, it didn’t look much different at all. Whatever you chose for your Thanksgiving, I hope you can see the potential that was revealed and remember it for Thanksgiving 2021.

Eat, shop and be local. I have always been one who tries to shop local first. Sometimes, it can’t happen, but I would rather give our friends and neighbors the first chance.

If nothing else has happened in 2020, it seems that many have rediscovered we have wonderful shops scattered around the city of Seymour. I won’t try to name them here because someone is always upset that I didn’t remember them all. I encourage you to not just make one Saturday a year small business Saturday but to make every Saturday small business Saturday.

Now as I wrap up this edition of what is rolling around in the mayor’s head, I want to share a quote from Ellen Goodman: “We spend Jan. 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives … not looking for flaws but for potential.”

This has been a year like we have never seen before. Some have spent much time looking for fault. I prefer to take Mrs. Goodman’s advice, though, and look for the potential.

Seymour, like many other communities, has so much potential. We have the potential to grow in the jobs sector. We have potential to grow in the retail sector. We have potential to grow in the housing sector.

Which one we grow in is not left to chance. Instead, it is left to a hardworking group of citizens who chose to get involved in a positive manner and leave a lasting impression on the community they love.

I chose to get involved decades ago at the urging of my then 70-plus-year-old boss. Maybe for him it was hindsight and he wished he had done more. Maybe it was that he knew any community needed new ideas to grow to its full potential.

Whatever it was, I am thankful my path has led me to serve as mayor of the best small town in America and focus my time and energy on how we release our potential for the world to enjoy.

Matt Nicholson is the mayor of Seymour. Send comments to [email protected].