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By Sam Hosler
Mayor, Town of Kearny
Where should we begin? Maybe with the fact that our old water system has cost us in the neighborhood of $300,000 over the last few months, and that we have had to dip into our financial reserves. Or maybe we can start with the good news that, after stripping off the old fiberglass lining on the town pool, we happily discovered that the underlying concrete form does not have structural problems (but the restoration of the lining and some other work will cost about $222,000).
Perhaps we should begin with the ATV corridor built several years ago with a grant on the Copper Basin right-of-way, enabling unlicensed vehicles to get to the off-road area past the water tanks. The corridor needs improvements, but the unlicensed vehicles it originally was built for have declined in number, to the point where the corridor is rarely used. Should the town continue to provide the corridor? Community input is needed.
How about the layoffs at ASARCO? How are they affecting those who are now without a job? And what about the businesses in this area?
Good things are happening in Kearny and the whole Copper Basin, but other things are happening as well. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have a difficult time sorting out all the priorities involved. Where should we begin? Somehow, someway, all these things deserve our best attention and efforts.
As we move further into 2015, the Town Council is carrying a heavy load. At last week’s council meeting, sixteen items were on the agenda rather than the normal four to six items.
Well, it is a lot easier to raise questions than it is to come up with answers. I ran across an old story which helps to guide me. It goes like this:
A young man really admired the wisdom and equanimity of an older man. So he went to him and asked, “ What can I do to be more like you?”
The older man answered, “I can answer that in just two words: Right choices.”
The young man then asked, “But how can I know how to make the right choices?”
The wise man answered, “In one word, Growth.”
“But,” said the young man, “where will this growth come from?”
The older man looked intently at the young man and said, “In two words: Wrong choices.”
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