Jalaluddin Rumi is credited with saying: “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wiser, so I am changing myself.” I am not familiar with this person beyond this statement, but, I agree with the logic. In the long run, we may not be able to change the inevitable, but we can change our response to the inevitable. Every week, I share some of the joys, challenges – and more often the obstacles – faced by the Town of Marlinton. In the search for solutions to some of our problems, I have discovered our problems are not unique to us alone. Virtually all other similarly sized towns face the same challenges. We always want to move on to the new and exciting. The reality is, we are continually dealing with the everyday– trash, water/sewer issues, environmental compliance, what-to-do-about-healthcare, the overall cost of operations and making do with what we have. To provide you with a laugh and to put things in perspective: the first thing Monday morning was “a complaint about a neighbor’s walnut tree dropping walnuts in someone else’s yard” and “what we/the Town were going to do about it?” The Mayor’s Corner is an attempt to enlighten interested citizens to some of the work that is never-ending. Too often, we have to put bandaids on problems. I would rather correct the cause of the problem. Problems will not be solved until the cause is corrected. Otherwise, you can bet more bandaids will be required. The Mayor’s business is like our personal business. We want to do many things. But we can only do what we can afford to do. Money is the roadblock to the many projects we would love to see happen. The modern buzz words are sustainability and livability. More and more, leaders of bigger cities benefit from the concept of smart cities. For instance, San Diego is investing in smart street lights. This type of improvement is attractive to the interest of funding agencies. I believe these concepts are moving in our state, but, to whose benefit. For instance, HB 2744 would authorize local units of government to adopt local energy efficiency partnership programs and to create districts to promote the use of energy efficiency improvements by owners of certain real property; to provide for the financing of such programs through voluntary property assessments, commercial lending, and other means; to authorize a local unit of government to issue bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness and to pay the cost of energy efficiency improvements from the proceeds thereof; to provide for the repayment of bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness; to authorize certain fees; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain governmental officers and entities; and to provide remedies. The bill is currently in the Committee on Political Subdivisions. I can appreciate the significance of such legislation for larger cities, but, I will need help finding the benefit for towns the size of Marlinton or Durbin. Meanwhile, it’s business as usual – does anyone need walnuts?
