July 2019 Newsletter
Calendar of Events.......
July 1 - City Council Meeting, MEETING CANCELLED
July 2 - Ambulance Meeting, 6:00 p.m. - Ambulance Building
July 2 - Senior Pinochle, 1:30 p.m. - Tekoa Community Church
July 2 - Empire Theatre Meeting, 11:30 a.m. - Feeding Station
July 3 - Tekoa Bike Club, 8:30 a.m. - Eclair's
July 5 - Chamber Meeting, 7:30 a.m. - Eclair's
July 9 - HTC, 9:00 a.m. - Kathy Kramer's Home
July 9 - FD #1 Commissioners Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - 101 N Crosby
July 9 - Hospital District Meeting, 6:30 p.m. - City Hall
July 15 - City Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - City Hall
July 16 - Park and Rec. Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - Tekoa Pool
July 17 - Slippery Gulch Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - Eclair's
July 25 - Tekoa Food Bank, 8:30 a.m. - City Hall
July 29 - Ambulance Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - Ambulance Building
July 31 - School Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - District Board Room
~~~Celebrate Recovery - Every Wednesday, 6:00 p.m. - Tekoa Community Church
City Hall will be closed on Thursday, July 4, and Friday, July 5, for the 4th of July Holiday.
The Tekoa City Council received a letter from Empire Disposal stating they will start charging us for dumping the cardboard dumpster, beginning July 1, 2019. The council decided the dumpster is a great benefit to the community, so they will be raising the administrative fee of $1.00, making it a total of $1.50, beginning with the end of July 2019 utility billing.
The City of Tekoa will hold a public forum to set the water use efficiency goal after the hour of 7:00 p.m. on Monday, July 15, 2019, during the regular council meeting. All citizens are invited to attend to give input.
Tekoa Library Happenings for July-- Thank you to all of the businesses and individuals who are supporting Summer Reading (A Universe of Stories) at the library. We are having a blast (off) and couldn’t do it without your generous support! The learning and activities continue into July, starting with a Backyard Science Workshop for Kids on Tuesday, July 2, at 2:30 p.m., at the library. More kids’ activities happen on Wednesdays from noon to 1:00 p.m. on July 10, 17, and 24. We look forward to partnering with the Healthy Tekoa Coalition for the July 24 event which will take place at Ruhl Park. There are also craft and story hours on Thursdays starting July 11. For adults and teens, join us for an out-of-this-world experience through virtual reality. Sign up in advance for 30-minute slots to try this amazing experience. Teens 13-17 must have an adult present to sign a waiver before participating. Dates are July 9 from 2:00-8:00 p.m., July 10 from 2:00-5:30 p.m., and July 11 from 1:00 - 5:30 p.m. Also, for teens, is a Kahoot Teen Trivia Night at the library on Tuesday, July 16, from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. snacks and prizes included. The library will be closed on July 4 to celebrate Independence Day. For more information on all of these events; check out Tekoa Library on FB or our website (http://www.whitco.lib.wa.us). All events are free.
HTC NEWS: This month we will partner up with the Tekoa Library for our FREE family activity. It is Alien Nerf Battles at Ruhl Park on Wednesday, July 24, at noon. Bring your toy or borrow ours and see how many aliens you can find. What a fun way to celebrate the end of the “Out of this World” summer reading program!
Mark your calendars! National Night out Dessert Social is Tuesday, August 6, from 6-8 p.m. at the Gymkanna Park. It is another FREE event for families. Our local first responders and community partners will be there – Tekoa Ambulance, Tekoa Firefighters, Whitman County Sheriff, and many more! Family Day Out events’ focus is strengthening the bonds between students and community…and school… and family. Increasing a young person’s bond to school, community, and family can help him/her get better grades, have higher test scores, and make that person less likely to have emotional distress, drink or use drugs.
Messages from the Mayor
Summer is here! Finally! I’m writing you on the first day of summer… and… it’s quite cold and rainy today. Bummer… But I know our neighboring dryland crops could use the rain.
I shared with you last month that I used the new online bill pay. I was very pleased to see that there were actually quite a few people who utilized this new service to pay their city utility bill. About $4,300 in fact! Anyway, it’s available and the fee is reasonable. I hope you find value in having this service available.
Did you enjoy Slippery Gulch?!? It was incredible! My family and I spent the day visiting with most of Tekoa and soaking in all of that sunshine. (I don’t do so well in the sunshine, by the way…10 minutes and I’m a crispy critter. SUNSCREEN!!) I loved visiting with all of you; I loved the vendors, the food and the egg toss! Reminds me…. Congratulations Shane and Sander for your championship performance in chucking eggs at each other from insane distances. I would like to challenge you to ‘overhand’ next year. Let’s see 100 YARDS!! (Haa haa!!) I read the newspaper article today in the Gazette and thought…. “Perhaps the city can provide some ‘hash marks’ for official measuring next year….” We shall see. Also, I’d like to say thank you to all of you who are involved with planning Slippery Gulch. The parade was amazing. The float was amazing. I’m always humbled when our Armed Forces Honor Guard and the VFW Honor Guard bring the flag down Crosby Street. Also, Chris and Liz Smith – I absolutely love that you two are on Heaton’s flatbed every year announcing our story in Tekoa! Top notch, folks…! I’m so glad I’m a part of this community and have the opportunity to enjoy our celebration with all of you in Tekoa!
Did you see the heavy equipment oiling and chip-sealing several roads in our city this month? Thank you, Tekoa, for approving the levy that provided this service. It’s so important to maintain our roads. Stay tuned: there are more street projects on the council’s plans in the future.
Good news! The Port of Whitman County partnered with Tekoa to replace the airport fuel card reader. If you’re unaware, the old card reader died a few months ago, and the cost to replace it was astronomical. It’s an important service to our community, and I’d like to extend my thanks to Councilman Roy Schulz for taking that on and making it happen!
Let’s talk about the trestle in Tekoa. The Governor’s office called me last month to let me know that … hold on to your hats… OVER $1 MILLION DOLLARS was granted to improve the trestle specifically to deck and fence it to make it passable. This is incredible news! The original grant request was for $1.7 million to improve the trestle and the approaches on each side of it, so we’re a bit short on completing the entire project. I’ve agreed to write the Washington State Parks and Rec commission to request the balance of the funds, and I would welcome anyone in Tekoa who wants to support this effort to write as well. Please feel free to call me for their contact information.
Holy cow… that was a long letter… Anyway…. as always, my friends and neighbors…. Please feel free to contact me at tekoamayor@gmail.com, 509-284-2847 (home), (509) 428-9447 (cell). Or…Just stop me on the street!
See you soon!
Troy
The City of Tekoa is an equal opportunity employer/provider.
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