point of view

The time of year that Keats called the "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness", autumn is a season famous for its harvest times, turning leaves, cooling temperatures & darkening nights. Autumn begins on September 22 or 23. Trees prepare for winter, the days get shorter. We typically think of "fall" as the North American version of the word "autumn" but it was in fact in widespread usage in England until relatively recently. Originally a shortening of the phrase fall of the leaf, the phrase was common in England in the 17th century. The word autumn entered English from the French automne & didn't become common usage until the 18th century.

Tuesday, 4pm - Municipal Court; 6pm - Parks/Recreation

Wednesday - Farmer's Markets

Thursday, 9AM - Public Safety Sales Tax Oversight Committee; 11am - Housing Authority; 2-4pm Kathy Twitchell Retirement Celebration; 6pm - DEP Annual Benefit Dinner

Friday, 7:30am - Special City Council Meeting

Saturday, 12-5 - Mug Shots

Parks & Recreation Board will review the Financial Report, staff reports, update on LWCF Grant application for Boundless Backyard, Budget Amendment Review

Farmer's Markets - (morning @ Community Center 9-11:30am & afternoon @ Hitch Lot 4-7pm)

Public Safety Sales Tax Oversight Committee will meet with Julia Mees to learn about SAFE

Special City Council Meeting to set the 2024 Property Tax Rates [General Fund $0.5728, Parks/Recreation $0.3226, Hospital $0.1613 for a total of $1.0567/$100 Assessed Valuation. Anticipated tax receipts - $1,227,211 for General Fund, $691,163 for Parks & Recreation, $345,581 for Hospital]; consider adoption of Compensation Market Study & amend FY 25 budget to provide funding, purchase of vehicles for Community Development Department, acquire right-of-way for Dry Fork Project & Board appointments - Board of Zoning Adjustment (Nick Houk), Community Center (Tray Harkins), Enhanced Enterprise Zone (Mike Edwards), Housing Authority (Trish Guarino), & Historic Preservation Commission (Sonya Morgan)

Mug Shots is an event in downtown to enjoy the breeze of fall weather beginnings & samples of different craft beer at participating business

Celebrating work anniversaries this week - Kaitlyn Glidden, Child Watch Attendant - 5 years; Vonda Floyd, Finance Director - 4 years; Caleb Anderson, Police Officer & Jonah McKennon, Firefighter/EMT - 2 years; Emerson Yarbrough, Lifeguard - 1 year.

Dr. Robert Shemwell was celebrated for his years of service on the Hospital Board of Trustees. We are appreciative for his service.

We were very excited to learn this week, the Connecting Entrepreneurship Community Conference selected Excelsior Springs to host their 2025 conference. We look forward to this opportunity for our businesses and for those who will visit.

Buttermilk Basin located in 414 Co. hosted a quilting event this week, bringing a bus of 50 ladies from Minnesota. You may have noticed when they took their lunch break, finding great choices in downtown.

• New Stormwater Policies are under development. This week, a draft was presented for review. We look forward to learning more about what the changes are.
• Westside CID heard presentation this week on the progress of the Safe Streets & Sidewalks project. A Listening Post has been scheduled for Oct. 10 to discuss.
• Eagle Scouts will be painting fire hydrants. The color will inform firefighters the water pressure available from each hydrant.

Overheard - a visitor said "coming to Excelsior Springs to visit, feels like coming home".