Point of View

In a rare cosmic event, five planets will be visible in the sky after sunset from March 25th to 30th. Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Uranus, & Mars will align with the moon in a great arc across the sky. Venus will be easy to see, but Uranus may require binoculars. Time it just right to spot every planet. Catch a glimpse on Monday, 3/27. Use binoculars & look west approx. 20 minutes after sunset to see the parade. Celestial objects will appear in the following order from L-R: M35 (a beautiful star cluster known as Messier 35), Mars, the Moon, Uranus, Venus, Jupiter, & Mercury. Read it in Farmers' Almanac

Monday, noon - Hospital Board;

Tuesday, 4:30 PM - Municipal Court; 6PM - Parks/Recreation

Thursday, 10AM - Housing Authority; 11:30 AM - Clay County State of Cities Address

Friday, 7:30 AM - Council Work Session

Saturday, 6PM - Piccadilly Gala

Celebrating Work Anniversaries this week -

• Zac St. John, Assistant Fire Chief - 17 years
• Richard Nash, Water Plant Operator - 4 years
• Tracy Sanchez, Finance Account Tech - 2 years
• Tylor Mountenay, Pollution Control Maintenance - 2 years
• Rowyn Pekarek, PT Recreation Program Supervisor - 1 year
• Trent Craven, PT Lifeguard - 1 year

Lieutenant Ryan Dowdy graduated form Northwestern University School of Police Staff & Command. We are grateful for your achievement.

• Parks & Recreation Board will review financials, staff & committee reports & discuss changes to Board ordinance approved at last council meeting.
• Council Work Session - Agenda items under development include: Community Development Annual Report; Change orders for outdoor pool project; elevator contract with MEI @ Hall; Replace actuators @ NW Pump station; & consider agreement with engineering firm for Garland Ave. Bridge

• Public Works is completing an inventory of cross tubes (stormwater pipe under roadways) to create a systematic maintenance & replacement schedule; have identified 595 so far.
• ESFD responded to house fire just outside the city limits at the beginning of the week, multiple departments responded, but the house was a total loss.
• VOTE on April 4th, decide whether the city will receive a sales tax on Recreational Marijuana. Tax revenues will be used for public safety & drug abuse prevention purposes. Because Missouri is not the 1st state to legalize recreational marijuana for adults, we can prepare for problems that were encountered by those states who legalized before Missouri, areas of concern are: Traffic fatalities & impaired driving; increased number of ER visits, hospitalizations, & suicide incidents; calls to poison control related to marijuana exposure for children ages 5 & younger; Black market investigations, felony arrests, postal system trafficking; & societal impacts including an increase in violent crimes.
• Work this week on the pool included electrical piping on deck, trench drain installation, preparation for deck pours next week, pads for diving boards poured, AV/Electrical boxes set in numerous places on deck, parking lot extension excavating will continue.
• We had an opportunity to apply for ARPA funds for repairs to the Hall of Waters, but were not successful in receiving the $2.5M grant. It will take a lot longer to fund the improvements that are still needed.

I love Excelsior Springs because it's small & cozy, but still close to the city. I am excited to get involved with Thrive Excelsior because I see a lot of potential for even more growth & improvement in the community, & want to be a part of that conversation! The more people who are willing to put in the time & effort, the better we as a community will be! It has been really cool to watch the town grow. Read it on Thrive Excelsior.

Email: mmcgovern@excelsiorsprings.gov
Website: cityofesmo.com
Location: Hall of Waters, 201 E. Broadway, 64024
Phone: (816) 630-0752