The Mayor’s Corner 06/14/2023

Mayor Randy Hibberd

Can you believe it!? Fiddle Week is going to be here in just four days! I hope everyone is ready to give the Fiddle Community a nice big Weiser Welcome!
The Fiddle Festival is really an amazing event. Every year the top fiddlers gather in Weiser for the oldest event of its kind and this year is the 70th anniversary. Amazing! From what I understand the Weiser Fiddle Festival essentially wrote the book on how other fiddle festivals across the country hold their events.
And the Fiddle Festival is well known outside of fiddle circles as well. As I meet with people around the State and tell them where I’m from they almost always ask questions about the Festival. So, the Fiddle Festival is yet another great reason to be proud to live in Weiser.
That being said, as you go about your business this week, please go out of your way to be extra kind to people you may not recognize. We want people to feel comfortable coming back year after year. This is part of what has made the Fiddle Festival the oldest contest of its kind in the country. So, please keep it up!
The City crews are getting ready for the big week. If you have driven anywhere in town, you probably were stopped by cones and had change lanes as the crosswalks were being painted. You may have also noticed the many waste cans lining the streets next to City Park. All non-contest activities will be taking place in City Park this year to keep it centralized.
One of the changes to the park for the Festival was a joint project by the Fiddle Committee and the City employees to literally raise the roof on the band shell. This was done to improve the sound and functionality of the band shell. And it just looks better, too!
So, I hope you are able to get out and enjoy the music, the food, and the other great activities!
Moving on to City business, Wayne Wallace, the Electrical Department Director, is asking for your help. If there is a power outage in your area and you heard the direction or saw the event that caused the outage, please call the City at 208-414-1965. By receiving this information, it will help the electrical crew pinpoint the location of the outage. If several people call to say what direction they heard a noise come from, by knowing the caller’s location, the guys can triangulate the problem’s probable location and cut the repair time down considerably. Otherwise, the crew must search through what is often a whole section of town to locate the issue. So, if there is an outage and you saw or heard something, please let us know.
On weekends or evenings, there will be a call tree asking which department you are calling about, whether it is Electrical, Water, Wastewater, or Garbage. When making the selection, your call will be routed to the department employee on call. If you do not get an immediate response, please wait, and call back in a few minutes. The City’s system currently does not have the ability to provide us with Caller ID so calling back is essential. (Caller ID is on the short list of upgrades to bring the City into the 21st Century.)
Also, Bill Taylor from the Water Department would like to remind those who have sprinkler systems that we will be sending out final notices for backflow testing soon. If you receive one of these notices, you will have 10 days to have your system tested, documented, and the results to City Hall or to let us know that you have a test scheduled and who will be performing the test.
The purpose of the testing is to ensure that water that has entered your sprinkler system does not have the ability to then flow back into the City’s drinking water system. This test is required annually.
Any system that has not been tested or a test scheduled will have the water shut off to the residence until the testing takes place.
So, if you have not yet had your system checked this year, it would be best to do so as soon as possible. If you need a list of licensed providers, please call the City at 208-414-1965 and we will be glad to provide you with names and contact information.
Well, that’s it for this week. Hope you enjoy the Fiddle Festival. Weiser really is a great place to live, work, and play.