The Mayor’s Corner 03/20/2019

Mayor Diana Thomas

Work is being done this week by Union Pacific Railroad on the W. 3rd Street crossing as well as adjacent property. It is hoped the weeds there and at the pond area will be taken care of too. The detour on W. 3rd is expected to be complete by the end of the week.
The Street crew will begin work again on some of the ADA ramps on W. Main and W. Idaho. This will be the culmination of the ADA projects. Watch for signs over the next month. The Street Department will also be replacing some of the older trees in the downtown area. Six of the trees will be replaced this year with trees that will be attractive but a little less messy.
The rest of the bathrooms in the parks will be opened up this week. Drinking fountains will not be turned on until freezing nights are gone. Tables will be distributed in the parks too. With the nicer weather, the parks will be ready to go for complete use.
Moving an electric pole in the alley between W. 1st and W. 2nd off Butterfield is planned by the Electric Department for the first of this week. There will be an outage on Tuesday, March 19th between 9:30 and 1:00. The eight houses affected were notified last Friday. The plan was to have it done before today. Our departments are also spraying for weeds around their facilities.
We received word that all the paperwork and preplanning is complete and bid packages prepared to the W. 9th Street project. The bid date we were given is April 23 to open bids so work can be scheduled. Now, we are hoping the bids come in at a good level and the contractor is able to get right on the project.
The City Council received a great update by Steve Hale, CEO of Weiser Memorial Hospital. Welcome to our new staff members and to Brad Terry, our new doctor and Anndi Wheeler the new PA in town. We appreciate having good medical services for our residents through the hospital, Family Medical Center, Two Rivers Medical and the Specialty Clinic. It is great to be able to stay at home for our care.
I am personally looking forward to the upcoming presentation, An Evening with Holocaust Survivor, Marion Blumenthal Lazan at the high school on April 1st at 7:00 pm. There is no cost for this presentation.
Congratulations to the WHS Cheer Squad on another outstanding season and taking the top prizes at the 3A competition last weekend. Great job, ladies.
Spring sports are well under way. Find your favorite and take time to support our kids.
It was a busy entertainment weekend this past week. Hope you didn’t miss out on the Weiser High School production of ‘Cinderella’. It was a great evening of music. The Onion Skins had another great production, too. St. Patrick’s Day added food and fun in several locations. Next up is the Weiser Youth Symphony this Friday at 7:30 at the Snake River Heritage Center.
A couple more paraprosdokians from Lyle: “I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.” (Hmm, I think I can identify with that one.) “To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first, and call whatever you hit the target.” (There’s a sure thing.)
Remember next week is spring break for our schools. Be careful around the parks and pond. It is great walking and biking weather right now.