I have been writing these notes to the people of the town I live in for almost nine years. I started writing them, believe it or not, because I wanted to explain why I vetoed the first ordinance my first city council passed. In 2004 the city council proposed and passed, by a vote of five to three, an ordinance that had the intent and purpose of preventing the Mayor of Malden from speaking to the Malden City Clerk. ...

I attended the Missouri Municipal League meeting in Jefferson City last week. The MML organizes these events to allow municipal officials from around Missouri to meet with members of the state legislature, the governor, the state treasurer, and other functionaries. ...

Tomorrow night there will be a city council meeting. The last one, a month ago, lasted twenty-one minutes. The good news is that there is an outside chance we can equal, if not better, that time tomorrow. Our schedule is short with only one resolution on the agenda regarding an easement between the City of Malden Airport Board and the City of Malden Board of Public Works. ...

The Malden Board of Public Works met last Tuesday, January 29th. The BPW is charged with control of Malden's electricity, water, and wastewater. No surprise, all the aforementioned were discussed. The construction of a new wastewater treatment plant is proceeding; it appears that the BPW will be required to expend about $250,000 to install catalytic converters at the power plant to aid in pollution control, and there was much discussion of long range planning to rebuild our water distribution system. ...

I have had several, as in two, people ask about discoloration in Malden's public water system. If two people have asked it probably means at least twenty haven't yet reached for the telephone. The discoloration is a result of sediment, primarily rust, that is dislocated when the water lines are flushed to clean them out. ...

The Malden Parks and Recreation Board is currently receiving the results from a great idea. In November the board decided to distribute printed surveys asking what the public wanted most from our parks and recreation system. The format used was a list of projects to be built, improved upon, or in some instances newly created. ...

It is the first Sunday of 2013. We will charge, or stumble even further, into the 21st Century. I keep waiting for my personal intergalactic space cruiser to show up. In 1959 when I thought about life 50 years into the future, I was convinced I would have my own space ship by 2013. The problem may be that they have to reconfigure mine. The space ship I imagined when I was fourteen may not fit this body in its sixty-eighth year...

I have a very good friend named Gary Hogan. "Hogan" as many call him is a valuable member of our community. He lives just outside the city limits of Malden. He has a little tale I've heard him relate many times. It goes something like this. "You have your kids and you just love them to pieces. ...

I attended a Christmas get together with the Emergency Management people last night. I personally believe that Christmas parties should be held as close to Christmas as possible. December the eighth seems a little too far from the magic day. However, I can't complain about a free meal and time spent with a good group of people. ...

Today is December 2nd and it is sixty-seven degrees outside. I mentioned last week that at our last city council meeting we appropriated $6,500 to purchase a new snow plow. I'm sure there was some logic involved in that decision, but right now it plum evades me...

We met as your city government last Monday evening. There was a gentleman present exercising his right to address his government about a perceived wrong. I was impressed with the way he conducted himself and the way your city council responded. In this age of public snarling about those issues that affect us all, it was a pleasure to see and hear a matter discussed without acrimony. ...

The federal election is over, and we have retained most of the incumbents. Thanksgiving Day is upon us, and we are in the midst of the Missouri Firearms Deer Season. Thanksgiving Day and deer season are signs of a return to normalcy in the body politic. ...

Today is Veterans Day. The day, like most holidays, is not celebrated on its designated official day. We move it around to suit us and provide a three day weekend. I was invited to a celebration on the 8th and one on the 9th. I sincerely appreciated the effort those organizations made...

Daylight Savings Time is over (can anyone remember when it was fast time), 2012 is almost over, and let us all give thanks to the election laws of this land that the election will be over in forty-eight hours. I met briefly this past week with the Malden Board of Public Works. ...

I spent part of this past Tuesday and Wednesday in West Memphis, Arkansas at a meeting of The Delta Grassroots Caucus which was organized by the Delta Regional Authority. City Administrator Ted Bellers and Councilman Charles Dierks also attended. The DRA is a commission made up of the governors of the eight states that border the Mississippi River Delta. The area encompasses two hundred fifty-three counties or parishes...

April 1st of this year I met with two gentlemen of Chinese extraction. Their names were Ducki Jo and Bo Bgib Son. Mr. Jo and Mr. Son were interested in buying or leasing the entire Malden Air Base and converting it into a training camp for prospective Chinese professional baseball players. After the initial meeting, I never heard anything further from them. Possibly the roiled international financial markets had some effect on their plans...

I met with a representative from SEMA/FEMA last week. The gentleman was in Malden to complete an accounting of the funds expended in re-conducting Malden's electrical distribution system. All of the requisite people from the City of Malden and the Malden Board of Public Works were present to assist. ...

The Malden Park and Recreation Board consists of nine members appointed by the mayor and approved by the city council. The board exists because the Statutes of Missouri require such a board if a tax for parks is levied on the citizens. In the 1990's, the people of Malden voted to collect a one-fourth cent sales tax to fund parks and recreation in Malden. ...

I attended a very moving ceremony on September 11th organized by our local AmeriCorps Volunteers. The ceremony was held at the Wall of Honor created by the Malden Army Airfield Preservation Society. The Malden Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Color Guard presented the colors, a prayer was offered, and all those present held lit candles in memory of those who died on September 11th, 2001. ...

I would like say thank you to the Malden city employees who recently finished work on repairing a break in one of our sewer mains. If you had watched these people on the job you could only have gained respect for what they do. It is their job and what they are paid for, but they perform their work with dedication and skill. ...