Trim trees and shrubs to keep the sidewalks clear for walkers

I hope you enjoyed last Friday because the 4th of July in Weiser is great! From the breakfast in the park to the fireworks display on the hill, the 4th is a wonderful community celebration! 

 As I said, the day’s events started with a great breakfast in City Park sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, followed later with a Veteran’s Parade, organized by Steve Fenske, from the Train Depot to Veteran’s Park. Then it was over to Memorial Park for a free picnic provided by Ridley’s and the LOR Foundation and organized by Natasha McDaniel of the City of Weiser. Even though it was raining there was quite a turnout for each of these events. The new covered area in Memorial Park, provided by funding from the Blue Cross of Idaho Foundation, was great at keeping everyone dry while they enjoyed their lunch.

 I want to say a big thank you to the 11 volunteers who helped Bill Taylor and Pete Nye from the City set up the fireworks display for Friday evening. The display was beautiful and a marvelous way to end the day celebrating our country’s 249th anniversary.

 Plans are already underway to celebrate next year’s landmark 250th celebration!

 OK! I’m switching gears here. I would like to introduce you to an unsung hero here at City Hall. Sondra Myers is in the purchasing department (made up of two people) and does a great job! She is in charge of taking orders for supplies, parts, and equipment from all the departments, finding the item locally or online, making sure the item meets the specifications needed, getting the best price, and making sure the process is seamless. Imagine having to order everything from paper, to water line connecters, to power line parts and having to know what the part is for, and exactly which part is needed. She also processes and prepares the invoices to have the treasurer prepare checks for payments. In addition, Sondra keeps track of the inventory making sure that none of it becomes unaccounted for. Sondra seems to do this job effortlessly as she saves the City thousands of dollars a year both in finding the best price and making extremely few mistakes. Thanks Sondra for the great job you do day in and day out! You are greatly appreciated!

 Next on the list, Ron McDaniel of the street department would like to remind everyone that as summer progresses so does the growth on your trees and shrubs. This is only normal, but when the trees start overhanging and the shrubs start impinging on the sidewalks, it makes it difficult for people to use the sidewalks as they are walking. So, for those of you with trees and shrubbery near your sidewalk, please take a few minutes to trim the shrubs back to at least the edge of the sidewalk and the trees to provide a seven-foot clearance as per the State and City code. So many of our residents like to walk and we want to encourage walking for the community’s health. Let’s help them by not making the walkers walk in the streets.

 Also, in case you hadn’t noticed, the sidewalk project going from the bottom of the hill on State Street over to Memorial Park and connecting to the downtown sidewalk has begun. This project should last only a few weeks and will provide students and athletes with a pathway to get from the high school to the athletic fields at Memorial Park without having to walk in the road. It will also nearly complete a walking loop from downtown to Memorial Park to Weiser High School, then down W. 9th Street, and back downtown. The only section without a sidewalk will be the two block section on Indianhead between the high school and W. 9th Street. This section will be added to the list for future projects.

 Also, work has picked back up on the sidewalk at the top of the hill at Memorial Park. If you are not aware, the bollards that have been there for years have been removed and you will have a nice sidewalk for your tailgating activities in the future.

 Well, that’s it for this week. We are looking forward to celebrating next year’s 4th in a big bash! Weiser really is a great place to live, work, and play!