A Minute With the Mayor

Well, my first born graduates from high school in less than a month. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting as the time has grown nearer. I teared-up when I dropped him off for his first day of kindergarten and I’m sure I’ll do the same when he walks across the stage to receive his diploma. What I can’t believe is how quickly the time in-between as gone. It has really made me think about counting every moment with him as more important than the last.

I have also been reflecting about Lyons as a community in the same way. It has been over twenty years now since I moved to town. Twenty years! Hard to believe so much water has passed under this bridge. But I think about how quickly it has all gone and about how little time we really have to make a difference. There have been many, many wonderful community leaders who have come before my generation and there will be many who come after. What they have accomplished has been dictated by the moment in time that they chose to serve. What was important to community leaders in the 1960’s was probably much different than those in the 80’s and of those today. The thing they all have in common however is that they served/s their community with a visionary mindset that allowed Lyons to continue to prosper for generations to come. The folks I have worked side-by-side with the last twenty years have had that mindset. Their mission has always been a simple one: what can we do to help make Lyons a great place to live, work and play. Some ideas have been big busts and others great successes but there have always been ideas. Those ideas have powered the advancement of our little community. The goal is to always be generating those types of ideas.

And how do you keep generating new ideas for improving our community? You have to continuously be recruiting new people to help join the cause. The community club is a great example of this. Its membership has ebbed and flowed over the last twenty years. I’ve been in meetings where attendance was around 30 to 40 community members and I’ve been in meetings where it has been me and two other people. It became hard during those lean years to continuously generate new ideas to advance the mission – not impossible but hard. However, now we have seen a resurgence of new talent and creativity with the next generation of young adults contributing and carrying on the mission. It is so fun to witness and experience the creativity and enthusiasm going on these days. It is the way the world is supposed to work.

So thank you to those individuals who have carried the flame of inspiration and determination that have helped keep Lyons a great place to live, work and play. We are eternally grateful for the time and service you have given to your community over the years. I hope your actions serve as inspiration to others to become the future stewards of our community’s mission. Whether you are moving back home after college to start your family or you’ve recently retired or you want to start up a new business in town or you just like to be involved, you can help lead this community into the future. However you choose to do it, know that your efforts will be appreciated. There is nothing more rewarding than helping your community become all that it can be (except watching your children do the same!)

Speaking of helping the community be better tomorrow than it was today, just a couple of quick updates for you from the April council meeting. The engineers are still hopeful the pool we be ready to go by Memorial Day. It has been a long, cold winter and they did get behind because of it. However they hope to make up ground now that the weather is getting warmer. We are probably going to re-finance some water bonds that will save the city some money over the life of the loan. That’s a good thing. Every dollar helps. The grant application for the city auditorium I’ve been telling you about has been submitted. We’ll know by the end of the month whether we get it or not. If we do, it is worth $375,000. We would be able to check everything off our wish list and accomplish it all at once if we would be blessed to receive such an awesome gift. Town clean-up is going to be Saturday, April 26^th. Mark your calendars if you have junk around the house to get rid of. We also set the new rate structure for the new swimming pool. Pool rates are going up some but not as bad as one might think. Seasonal passes are going up approximate $20 and daily rates are going up approximately $3.00 to $5.00. We want a great pool that continues to be affordable to use. That’s all I have for now. Enjoy this warmer weather. Wish me luck on making it through graduation. I’m going to need it! Talk to you soon.

Mayor Andy Fuston