Friday, May 29, 2009

FRIDAY MAY 29, 2009
3:40 PM

Today has been cemetery and marriage day for me. I spent the entire morning working on cemetery business. We had a burial and sold a lot and dealt with several problems.

I returned early from lunch and just after I returned I received a call requesting a marriage ceremony. I told them to come on. They arrived a few minutes later and I performed the ceremony. I have just completed another wedding. Just another day in the life of the mayor of Wynne.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

THURSDAY MAY 28, 2009
10:15 AM

I spent the day yesterday driving and attending the Executive Committee meeting of the Arkansas Municipal League in Lake Village. We had a very good meeting and it was good to visit with my friends from around the state.

I took a different route going and coming. I enjoyed seeing parts of Arkansas that I would probably not visit if I had not had a meeting in Lake Village. There is a lot of farm land between Wynne and Lake Village.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

TUESDAY MAY 26, 2009
1:06 PM

Pat and I spent the holiday weekend with Amy. Pat and Amy did very little work. They did some but not very much. They just enjoyed the time together.

I spent a good deal of time working on some small jobs that needed to be taken care of around Amy's home. I told her that I had done about all I could do. I think that I have completed most of the projects that needed some attention. I told her that we would probably not visit as often, because I had no projects to work on.

She is supposed to get her car back today from the body shop. She is ready to get her car. She is thankful to have a car to drive, but the underpowered small SUV it not what she would choose to drive.

The truck dealer in Jonesboro repaired the garbage truck on Friday afternoon. The men worked on Saturday morning to complete the Friday route. The truck worked fine. They have a busy day today. They have to pickup two wards and the normal Tuesday route is the largest day of the week for residential garbage. They will work today as long as they can do the work safely. They will have another long day tomorrow. They will have to finish the Tuesday route and then pick up the Wednesday route.

I have been bidding on a truck on ebay. The auction closed this morning and I did not win. I was the high bidder with 10 minutes left in the auction. I had a chance to bid again, but I chose not to increase the amount that was bid with 10 minutes left in the auction. Sometimes I think that it is more fun to search for trucks than to actually own and work on them. No that is not true, I am still looking. Some time I will find the one that I want and will have to go to work making repairs.

Friday, May 22, 2009

FRIDAY MAY 22, 2009
1:25 PM

I am at city hall by my self today. Theda is taking a vacation day. We will be closed on Monday for Memorial day holiday.

It has been very quiet today. I have only had one phone call and there has not been a single person come in to city hall today.

We are having trouble with our residential garbage truck today. In fact at the present time the truck is in Jonesboro or own it way. The men did not complete their route before the trouble began. They are coming in tomorrow and complete today's route.

Speaking of garbage.... We are not able to stay up with the amount of trash (class three and four) being placed on the street. I think that some of the problem is people are doing spring cleaning of their property.

Pat and I plan to spend the holiday in Memphis with Amy. Amy is doing much better. I pray that she continues to improve and is able to find a job.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2009
11:26 AM

I have just completed the application for a grant to construct a walking trail at the Wynne sports complex. I will recheck it to make sure that all the information is complete and mail the application tomorrow. I applied for a $71,000.00 grant. If we are successful the city will have to provide 20% of that cost. We have the match for this grant. The match was provided by a local citizen for this project. I hope that we receive the grant, but it will be several months before we hear and then several months before we could begin construction. The government works slow.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

TUESDAY MAY 19, 2009
10:00 AM

I received my copy of the Arkansas Municipal League magazine yesterday. The May issue contains an article about me.

I encourage my readers to go online and read this article. Go to arml.org and when the page is displayed, click on the online version of the City & Town magazine. Follow this by clicking on the link and read the article about me. The article is on page 10 of the magazine.

Monday, May 18, 2009

MONDAY MAY 18, 2009
11:50 AM

I have not written for several days. I have been helping Amy deal with her situation.

This morning I went to the new school for the Cross County District. The governor was the featured speaker. I was impressed with the building and the behavior of the students. The ceremony went well and the children were on their best behavior.

We have had a lot of rain the last few weeks in Wynne. The farmers are having a difficult time working in the fields.

Church was not held last night. Instead the Sunday school classes held fellowships. Pat went to her class meeting at five and stayed about 45 minutes and then came home and went with me to my fellowship. Her fellowship was for class members only. Mine was for members and their wives. We had an excellent turnout. Only one active member was absent. We enjoyed some very good food and had an good time visiting with other members.

The city council meeting was very short last week. The most of the time was spent on a request to grant a variance for some property. After quite a bit of discussion the motion was made to grant the request, but the motion failed. We only had seven members present. We had one in the bed at home with a hurting back, one in the hospital, and another one on a mini vacation. It took me longer to describe the meeting Wednesday on Yawn Patrol than it did to conduct the meeting Tuesday night.

Pat has gotten her new glasses and new sunglasses. She is pleased with both of them.

On Friday of last week I recieved a response to our porposal for a layoff policy for the city from the attorney. He had two suggestions for improvment and making the document better. Both were minor. I have made the corrections. I plan to present it at the June city council meeting and hopefully they will adopt it as the official city regulation. I and the department heads are pleased with the final draft. I hope that the city council agree.

I received a call from the municipal league last week and they asked me to chair one of the sessions at the June convention. I told them that I would gladly help. I look forward to attending the conventions. I get to visit with old friends and make some new friends. I always learn something that will aid in the operation of the city.

Next week I will travel to Lake Village for a meeting of the Executive Committee. It will be a long day, because I intend to drive down, attend the meeting and then return home.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

WEDNESDAY MAY 6, 2009
3:01 PM

This week has been an easy week so far as far as my work for the city. I did get the cemetery mowed this week. It had been needed for several days, but the weather prevented the contractor from working. He completed it yesterday between the rain.

I went home a few minutes early yesterday. I mowed my yard. It needed it. I have not been able to cut the grass because of the rain. On Saturday and Sunday my rain gage recorded three inches of rain. It rained again last night and at noon there was an inch and one half in the gage. I knew that we received a good deal of rain, it woke me up several time last night.

We have, as of now, a very short agenda for next weeks city council meeting. I will not know for sure until later in the week when we mail out the agenda to the council members.

Amy came to Wynne on Monday afternoon. She had an appointment with her doctor. The checkup was great. Pat and I took her out to eat and we had a good visit after the meal. She is still looking for a job. I hope and pray that she will be successful in her job search and I hope that she finds a job soon.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

TUESDAY MAY 5, 2009
3:32 PM

This morning I was sitting in Theda's office and we were discussing some type of city business when a young couple came to the door. They asked for the mayor. I told them that I was the mayor and asked if I could help. The young lady said that they would like to get married. I asked them if they had any money. They looked puzzled and said no. I said that I would marry them for nothing. I did and they left happy.