Hello again from Mayor Kim Johnson.

It’s the middle of July already.  Do any of you who are my age and older feel that time goes faster?  I always start the summer thinking it will be long and steady but, oh no, for me it’s zipping right by.

I hope you were able to read my thank you for our wonderful July 4^th celebration.

So now it’s time for Mayor Kim to reflect on my parade performance.  First, I loved my decorated golf cart.  However, it became apparent very quickly that the fire trucks were moving way too fast for me to keep up to my cart for more treats.  I think the joke of the day was “Where’s the mayor?, That’s not the mayor. Where’s the mayor?’’ So live and learn!  Next year you will see Mayor Kim on her golf cart – probably decorated the same as those pom poms took a lot of time to open and arrange.

There has been a lot of ‘press’ about the food pantry that a group of West Bend citizens have worked to organize but I haven’t had a chance to say ‘thank you’ to all of you for your commitment and compassion for others.  As we make our grocery runs please try to add a few nonperishable food items for donation.  I’m sure they are always looking for volunteers and the number I’ve seen to call is 515-887-4422.  Mayor Kim needs to call!

Courtney Block, thank you for organizing the donation drive for diapers for the Spencer area.  You have such a generous heart.  I was able to donate several packages of diapers but honestly  I probably would not have even known where to do that without your initiative.  I have been hearing some very sad stories about the devastation in the Spencer area, residents losing their homes because insurance doesn’t cover damage and they have a mortgage they now can’t afford with all reconstruction that would be needed.  Please keep the residents of Spencer in your thoughts and prayers.  Please share with others if you know of other ways we can ‘give back’ to support this community.

The library scavenger hunt continues.  What a fun way to support families and friends to be out and about in our town.   With this fun comes an awareness for all of us that there may be more children on bikes or walking around that may be busy looking for a scavenger item and may not as aware as usual.  Keep an eye out for them and let’s all be safe.

The city council received an interesting document regarding the variety of trees that are along city streets and parks.  I just noticed there is a date of 2019 on the bottom so not sure how up to date this is.  We found it interesting that there are/were 7 pear trees, 1 gingko and a catalpa tree.  I had to look up ‘catalpa’ .  As a council we were amused by this, wondering where these trees are located.  If you have one of these, let me know – I’m so curious!

I have been approached by several residents who are serious about pickleball and a few people who are joking with me about pickleball.  At this point I, as a citizen and not my mayor role, am trying to support a few citizens in trying to figure out if we can get one or two pickleball courts in our town.  At some point this will need city council involvement, but this initiative is in the beginning stages of discussion.  I would love to hear from you on your thoughts about this idea!  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.

As always, if there is anything you would like me to be doing as your mayor, please reach out.

Be assured that there is no cost for this column.  We are very fortunate to still have an actual newspaper that serves our community.  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.