Introduction, Dog-Friendly Additions and Winter Thanks
Hello from Mayor Kim Johnson.
When I was going through the mayoral election process, I thought that a monthly column might be another nice avenue to highlight our ‘rock solid community’. Feedback is always welcome on the contents on this column as well as the ‘title’! Please be assured that there is no cost for this column. We are very fortunate to still have an actual newspaper that serves our community.
So that brings me to my first column and thoughts as to what to write about this month.
Hmmm-well our city council minutes are already published and I don’t intend this column to be a place for ‘minutes’. If further support or clarification is needed based on a city council initiative, we can certainly include it here. Otherwise, I just want it to be a ‘good feel’ place to reflect on the good fortune that we have living in West Bend.
One topic suggestion was to share a bit of myself.
City residents should have received my election ‘postcard’ introducing myself but that was a while ago and it might have gone right into the trash so I’ll keep it short! I am a proud employee of Prairie Lakes AEA (Area Education Agency) as a Speech-Language Pathologist. I travel to several towns providing a bit of school based service but most of my current caseload is for Early ACCESS families who need support for their child (under the age of 3) in the area of communication within their homes. I moved to West Bend 3 years ago but have golfed, socialized and shopped in our town for 12 years. Prior to moving back to Iowa, we raised 2 daughters in Litchfield, Minnesota. They both reside in their home state with their husbands. So that’s enough about me. A long time ago I graduated from Humboldt High School and then received my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from UNI.
I have now facilitated 1 council meeting but attended 2 prior meetings and am very impressed with the council members that you have elected to serve our community. Grant Gearhart, Joe Montag, Chis Newton, Linda Thilges and Brooke Winkelhorst are very knowledgeable in the city council initiatives. I had absolutely no idea how much information is needed to effectively run a town and our City Administrator, Lisa Sewell with support from Kim Elbert, are responsible with so much more than any of us realize. I am excited to begin my mayor term with these council members and administration.
I had to miss a lot of November-December holiday events that were held in our community due to foot surgery but ‘wow’ there were so many exciting activities that I hope you were able to partake. Now that February is right around the corner, I wanted to highlight the adorable Daddy-Daughter Dance on February 3. As you may know this is sponsored by the dedicated Splash Pad committee. Come on out and support this event with all proceeds going to the Splash Pad. Also, the Villager has corsages for all those beautiful princesses. What a great example of community resources working together.
I just learned that we now have dog walker waste stations located at the Grotto (on the main street and west sides of the Grotto pond) and also at the gazebo by the light plant/railroad tracks. Living across from the Grotto I see many dogs walk by and I’m sure this is a beneficial addition for all our dog lovers.
One last shout out is for our city employees who plow our streets and clear our business sidewalks as needed. We have been lucky not to need this service this winter until recently but when it did start to snow and I heard the snowplow go by my house as I was warm and comfy still in bed, I whispered, ‘thank you’ and went back to sleep.
So that’s a wrap.
I will continue to try to have a column for the third week of each month. Again, suggestions are welcome for topics. Please feel free to contact me at any time at my email (kjkimtalk2@gmail.com) or you can reach me by phone at 320-241-4770.