WEDNESDAY JANUARY 6, 2010
6:15 AM

My life is going to change. Pat has decided to retire. She gave her notice on January 4th and her last day of work will be the 15th. I am happy for her. She has worked all of her adult life. Now she can do some of the things that she wants to on her own schedule. We have reviewed our financial situation and we think, with some expert advice, that we have made adequate plans to be able to have a comfortable life with the plans we have made and carried out. It will be a big change for Pat and me. It will be odd not having to go to work, after having to go for more than 40 years.

The city ended the year of 2009 in good financial shape. This was due to proper planning and a good group of department heads being able to carry out their assignments using the money that was available. I am grateful for the work of all of the employees of the city. Working together we have been able to accomplish a number of goals. The city council has also been a good working partner in moving the city forward.

I am pleased with the work of the sanitation department over the last two weeks. Christmas and New Years day are always a difficult to stay up with the trash generated. The department came through very well. They had to operate the residential truck from 7 AM until about 11Pm on the days after the holidays to pick up the trash. It was long days, but the crews did an excellent job and I am proud of the work that they did for the citizens of Wynne. I am also glad that we now have a can system to deal with household trash. This system allows the crews to pick up the trash from the comfort of a warm truck and not be out in the cold weather. The only down side is that two employees had to lose their jobs. I think that this system has worked well and that the citizens have been positive about the changes.

JANUARY 3, 2010
12:55 PM

We had a little snow last night. Not very much, but the ground was covered this morning. It is very cold here. I have to go to the cemetery sometime this afternoon, we have a funeral tomorrow morning.

Pat and I have gone to Jonesboro the last three days. We went on Thursday night for our evening meal. I just wanted to get out of Wynne and have a good meal. (There is nothing wrong with the food in Wynne) I just wanted to have something different. We went back to Jonesboro on Friday and saw the movie The Blind Side. We enjoyed the movie very much. A good story. We went back yesterday. Pat wanted to do some shopping and we saw another movie. This time we saw Up in the Air. We both enjoyed this movie.

We watched the Liberty Bowl last night. Arkansas won in overtime.

TUESDAY DECEMBER 29, 2009
2:00 PM

The sanitation department was very busy yesterday. The street department crews went around and picked up all of the trash that was not in the cans. The knuckle boom truck was busy picking up other types of trash.

The residential truck had two wards to pick up. They worked until about 11:00 pm last night. They did not get completely through, but they got about 95% of the cans emptied.

They will have to work at least that amount of time next Monday. We will be closed on Friday for New Years Day and they will have two wards to pickup next Monday. We have been working on a plan that will aid in this type of situation in the future.

DECEMBER 26, 2009
10:30 AM

We have had a very good Christmas Holiday. Pat and I went to Iuka on Thursday afternoon. We visited with mother a while and then met Pat's brother and wife for supper. We had Mexican food and we all enjoyed the meal. We spent the night at Mothers.

On Christmas morning my family met at my brothers for breakfast for visiting. David and his wife were there as well as his two daughters. Pat and I were there, but Amy was not able to attend. She was not feeling well and decided not to make the trip from Memphis. Mother and my aunt were also present. We all enjoyed a very good breakfast and then visiting for a few hours.

We went back to mothers and then to Pats brother. Pat, her brother and I went to visit her other brother. We got him out of the bed. He told us that his plans for Christmas was to sleep. We visited for a few minutes and then went to the cemetery where Pat's mother is buried.

We then went to my aunts home and Pat left her gift that we had for her. We then returned to mothers and packed and started home. We stopped in Memphis to eat with Amy and exchange gifts. We were able to find a cafe open on Winchester. It was TGI Fridays. We were all hungry and we all ate quite a bit of food including a dessert. It was very good.

We then returned to Amy's home and visited and exchanged gifts. We had purchased a leaf blower for Amy. She was excited about the blower and was looking forward to using it to remove her leaves form her yard. We got home about 10:00 pm and unloaded and went to bed. I think that we all had a very good time, but it was a very busy couple of days.

FRIDAY DECEMBER 18, 2009
6:30 AM

Jerry and I went to Jonesboro yesterday. We went to an asphalt plant for a fish fry and a presentation about a new cold mix that the plant is now producing. The new product is easier to work with and is should be of a more permanent nature if it works as described.

We both enjoyed the fish and visiting with friends from around the area who have similiar problems with street repairs.

Jerry decided after hearing the presentation to purchase some of the product and give it a try on some of the patching jobs on the streets of Wynne. We visited with a couple of truck drivers form Wynne who were at the plant working on a job in Jonesboro. They contacted us after we returned to Wynne and we have hired one of them to deliver some of the product to our shop today. They will complete their job in Jonesboro today and one of them deliver a load of the cold mix to us as they return to Wynne this afternoon. This will be cheaper than the city sending a truck and driver to Jonesboro to pick up this product. It will also allow one of these truckers to make some money as they have to return to Wynne for the weekend.

We also stopped by the Mack dealership to pickup some parts for our garbage truck and make an appointment for them to perform some repairs on one of our trucks. Jerry will take the truck to Jonesboro after the driver completes his run today. The dealership will repair the truck in the morning.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 12, 2009
3:30 PM

This past Thursday the East Arkansas Regional Solid Waste Board met. (I am a member of this board) The board made some important changes that will affect the flow of garbage in our district. The board regulations state that garbage in the district must go to a designated landfill. The City of Wynne has been in compliance with the regulations ever since I have been mayor, but a number of cities and counties were not in compliance.

After years of discussion the board finally took action that will force these cities and counties to deliver their waste to the proper landfill. After discussing this issue for eleven years the board now has in place regulations that will force these cities and counties to take their garbage to the proper landfill. If they do not take their garbage to the proper landfill, there are some regulations now in place that will force them to pay the landfills for their garbage if it is not delivered to the proper landfill. I do not think that these cities and counties want to pay for the disposal of their trash twice. The bottom line on this action is that we will have a landfill to take our garbage to and the board has control of the prices charged by the landfills.

I have been working on my State of the City address that I will deliver during the January meeting of the city council. I have spent quite a bit of time on the speech for the past several weeks. I think that after a few more minor adjustments it will be complete.

Jerry and I met with the engineers on Wednesday about the bridge that is to be built next year. They have started work on the plans for this new bridge. They think that this is a good time to be building this bridge because there is a shortage of work. They think that this will result in the city getting a better price for the work.

The city has been behind in our removal of leaves in the city because of a mechanical problem with the machine. We now have the machine back in service and the crews have removed most of the leaves placed on the streets.

I raked my leaves again this morning. I hope that this is the last time I have to do this until next season.

Pat and I went to the fire department Christmas party last night. We had a very good time and the food was excellent. Mike Hamrick was named Officer of the Year and Douglas Jones was named Firefighter of the year. Congratulations to both of these fine young men.

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 9, 2009
3:30 PM

The Wynne City Council met last night for the regular monthly meeting. Following is a summary
of the actions taken:

1. Had a report from Ms Marilyn Kountz about the 2010 census. She ask the members to help promoting the census to members of the Wynne community. There are a number of programs and quite a bit of money for the city based on the results of the census.

2. Approved an amended budget for the general fund for 2009. There were only a few changes to the budget that was adopted a year ago.

3. Approved the 2010 general and street fund budgets for the city. The major changes from the 2009 budget were the following: a 3% salary increase for city employees, more money for the operation of the city parks, money for the Wynne Friends of Animals to help with their work, $100,000.00 for the parks to purchase equipment for the mini parks in the city, increased for one year the capital outlay in the police dept. (we will purchase three new cars next year), $180,000.00 for the street dept to build a bridge on MLK.

4. Passed an ordinance establishing a planning area boundary for the city.(5 miles from present city limits)

5. Had a report from the committee about the Wynne Water Utilities. They plan to conduct a public hearing in January and have all city council members attend to hear the comments of the citizens. The committee said that they would not be making a recommendation to the full council, they want all council members to attend the public hearing and then decide as a group what action, if any to take.

6. Approved my recommendation of Lester Miller to the Wynne Planning Commission.

7. Heard a presentation from a couple about stop signs in the city. They took no action on the request of the couple.