November 2018 Newsletter
Calendar of Events...
November 1 ~ Empire Theatre Meeting, 11:30 a.m. ~ Feeding Station
November 2 ~ Chamber Meeting, 7:30 a.m. ~ Eclair's
November 6 ~ Ambulance Meeting, 6:00 p.m. ~ Ambulance Building
November 6 ~ Senior Pinochle, 1:30 p.m. ~ Tekoa Community Church
November 6 ~ Hospital District Meeting, 7:30 a.m. ~ City Hall
November 7 ~ Tekoa Bike Club, 8:30 a.m. ~ Eclair's
November 7 ~ Celebrate Recovery, 6:00 p.m. ~ Tekoa Comm. Church
November 13 ~ FD #1 Commissioners Meeting, 7:00 p.m. ~ 101 N Crosby
November 13 ~ HTC, 9:00 a.m. ~ Kathy Kramer's Home
November 14 ~ Celebrate Recovery, 6:00 p.m. ~ Tekoa Comm. Church
November 14 ~ Neighbor's Watch Meeting, 6:00 p.m. ~ Feeding Station
November 19 ~ City Council Meeting, 7:00 p.m. ~ City Hall
November 20 ~ Park and Rec Meeting, 7:00 p.m. ~ City Hall
November 20 ~ Senior Pinochle, 1:30 p.m. ~ Tekoa Comm. Church
November 21 ~ Celebrate Recovery, 6:00 p.m. ~ Tekoa Comm. Church
November 26 ~ Ambulance Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m. ~ Ambulance Bldg.
November 28 ~ School Board Meeting, 7:00 p.m. ~ District Board Room
November 28 ~ Celebrate Recovery, 6:00 p.m. ~ Tekoa Comm. Church
November 29 ~ Tekoa Food Bank, 8:30 a.m. ~ City Hall
City of Tekoa council meeting will be held on Monday, November 19, 2018, with a budget workshop starting at 6:00 p.m., and the regular meeting starting at 7:00 p.m., at Tekoa City Council Chambers. During the meeting a public hearing will be held to set the 2019 tax levy rate. All citizens are invited to attend.
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The City of Tekoa will be closed on Monday, November 12, for Veterans Day. Also we will be closed on Thursday, November 22; and Friday, November 23, for Thanksgiving.
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Community members are invited to pick a tag from the Tree of Sharing for a needy family in Tekoa. When you pick a tag, you fulfill a child’s Christmas wish list and brighten that child’s Christmas season. The Tree of Sharing grand unveiling will be on November 24, during Small Business Saturday, at the Tekoa Community Center. The tags will be available at Banner Bank for two more weeks. Tags must be selected, filled and returned UNWRAPPED to the bank by December 7 (no cash please). A gift-wrapping party will be held at the Tekoa Library on December 14. If you are interested in volunteering for the gift-wrapping, please contact Diane Harp at the Tekoa High School 509-284-3401.
Diane Harp & Kitana Sharpe (co-coordinator’s).
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Tekoa Neighbors’ Watch-We will be meeting on November 14, at 6:00 p.m., at the Feeding Station. Come have coffee and talk about what is going on in our little town.
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Tekoa Empire Theatre News: Tekoa Empire Theatre welcomes the Missoula Children’s Theatre’s performance of Alice in Wonderland on November 16, at 7:00 p.m., and November 17, at 2:00 p.m. Admission prices: adults: $8, senior/military: $6, students (ages 3-18): $4. For both shows: adults: $10, senior/military: $8, students: $6.
The Empire Theatre also welcomes the Snake River 6 Band for a free performance at 2:00 p.m., on November 24, for Small Business Saturday.
Messages from the Mayor~
No doubt you have enjoyed our pleasant fall weather. I suppose farmers wanted more rain, and I understand that it’s coming!!
Our landscape will change a little, thanks to the Union Pacific Railroad. They have given notice that the Iron Horse Arena will be leveled! All the buildings, panels, poles, etc. will be removed from this site in the near future. The arena organization has already designated what they want to keep and relocate. What is left will be removed, I suppose, to some dumpster.
What we don’t know, but can only speculate, is why the railroad is taking such drastic actions. They even offered to relocate the entire arena to a non-railroad property. I’m sure there will be more to this story as time goes on!!
Another dilemma that solved itself involved the Gymkanna grounds. The State Department of Transportation felt like they owned the Gymkanna grounds, but they were willing to lease the area to our Parks and Rec. committee for a fee!! Well, they don’t own all of the Gymkanna grounds, only the northern 1/3 of the area. Consequently, they backed away from this fee and basically said to continue on as before. Currently, the city is preparing to deed the Parks and Rec. this area that we own, and they will maintain the park as they have done so well in the past.
This will be my last newsletter. Pro-tem Troy Wilson now becomes mayor of Tekoa. I enjoyed my years serving as your mayor and working with the city council and city employees. You must give our council plenty of credit for tough decisions related to our water system, waste water system, and city streets. There will be more difficult decisions to be made in the future, especially with our waste water plant.
For a variety of reasons, it’s time for me to step down. Over the years, I have made some people unhappy. Possibly, with my departure, they will now become part of our community’s future and not a distraction!! It’s time for all our organizations that represent Tekoa to work together to make Tekoa a community that we can all be proud to say…. this is our home!!
Once again, it has been my pleasure to serve this community as the mayor. Your support over the years was both recognized and appreciated!
Fellow Tekoans:
The city of Tekoa was approached by the Port of Whitman in October regarding a new “Fiber to the Home” project that they will be building in the near future in Tekoa. I met with the Port to discuss what exactly this means for the residents in Tekoa, and what we need to do to participate. If you’re unsure exactly what “Fiber to the Home” (FTTH) means, or how you can use it in your home, or why it’s important, I’ll do my best to explain it here:
“Fiber to the Home” means: Fast Internet service. Actually, better than fast. Incredibly fast Internet service in your home. As technology moves forward, we are seeing more and more devices that connect to the internet in our daily lives. We connect our cell phones, our tablets, our televisions, our game consoles, and I’ve even seen a refrigerator now that connects to the Internet! The more devices we have connected in our home, the more ‘Bandwidth’ we need to handle the amount of data that we’re receiving and transmitting across the Internet.
“Fiber to the Home” is the solution that major metropolitan cities are using to meet this Bandwidth demand, and unbelievably… Tekoa is about to move a hundred years forward by having the infrastructure in place to handle the demands of the future…. right now! But what’s the catch? In meeting with the Port, they brought up some important points about which you need to be informed:
~The Port of Whitman is not an Internet provider. They are simply building the infrastructure so local companies who do provide Internet service can use the fiber and provide the service into your home. During my meeting, the Port informed me they sent out “Requests for Providers” to several local Internet companies who operate in Eastern Washington. Two of those companies right now are very interested in giving you the fastest Internet available over this new network.
~The Port wants to meet with the citizens of Tekoa for a Q & A session. That meeting will be held in a “Town Hall” forum, where you’ll be able to ask questions and decide if you want to participate. The Port will try to have some local Internet providers at that meeting to assist with technical questions. That meeting is TBD, and we’ll let you know as soon as we do!
~If you don’t indicate to the Port that you want FTTH during the construction phase, and you change your mind later, the cost for the connection to your home will be your responsibility. That cost is considerable, but don’t worry…. you don’t have to show up to the town hall meeting to “sign up”. They will let me know what we need to do to get signed up at a later date.
If you have more questions, please feel free to give me a call, or stop me on the street. I’ll do my best to help you out!
Troy Wilson
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