Good Tuesday afternoon! We enjoyed our quarterly meeting this morning with our management group - which is the directors, deputy directors, division directors and managers. We haven't met with this group in about two years as we avoided large in-person gatherings during the pandemic. It is nice to be in a different phase of the Covid-19 situation where we can feel a bit more comfortable there.
Today's city council meeting is predominantly driven by the budget process. Today the Council will be looking at quite a bit of comparative data being presented by the Council staff. We will also be diving a little deeper on the airport budget changes. We will also be talking about the Provo-Orem dispatch consolidation study, and looking at some changes to the Community Development Block Grant allocations for the current year.
I also wanted to mention the new Juneteenth holiday which we will celebrate on June 20 this year. Juneteenth celebrates the date of June 19, 1865 when the last enslaved people in the United States were freed in Texas. We are happy to join the federal and state governments in recognizing this holiday!
UPCOMING CITY EVENTS
Steel Magnolias I May 5 - May 28
Jive Spring Concert Vineyard/Springville I May 16 - May 18
The Dance Conservatory presents: King Bidgoods I May 20 - May 21
Utah COPA POP Concert I May 23 7:30 pm
Studio K Dance Recital I May 24 7:00 pm
Studio 1 Solo Showcase I May 26 4:00 pm
Studio 1 Spring Recital I May 26 7:00 pm
Bike-In Movie: Napoleon Dynamite I May 27 8:00 pm
Covey Center Summer Dance Classes I May 31 10:00 am
Dee Dee Darby Duffin Excellence Concert I June 6 7:30 pm
Movies in the Park: Shrek 2 I June 6 8:00 pm
No Pressure Book Group I June 7 7:00 pm
Jive Spring Concert: Riverton I June 10 - June 11
Movies in the Park: Sing 2 I June 13 8:00 pm
Wasatch Ballet Presents "Princess" I June 17 - June 18
Movies in the Park: Hercules I June 20 8:00 pm
Provo Market I July 23 10:00 am
The Tom Proctor Band I June 24 7:30 pm
Movies in the Park: Spider-Man No Way Home I June 24 8:00 pm
Ammon and Liahona I June 25 6:00 pm
NEW CHANGES COMING
Phone System
The day will come when the man at the telephone will be able to see the distant person to whom he is speaking. – Alexander Graham Bell
Since the phone system we installed in the early 1990’s is unable to make the move to the new city hall, a new phone system with improved capabilities became necessary. We are all excited, and if you’re like me a little nervous, to get the new phone system on Wednesday the 18th (tomorrow).
While the new system has some exciting capabilities, our step one is to replace existing functionality. If we can make a call, receive a call, and get our voice mail we will be successful on the 18th. This limited scope is being intentionally pursued to keep project teams focused on the many other aspects of the move and to reduce the number of changes we all must face. Once we have a little breathing room, we will have some very cool phone features to unwrap that includes, as Mr. Bell predicted, built in video conferencing. I’m personally excited by having Zoom like features, chat, SMS, and various other team and resident focused communication capabilities at our fingertips.
So why am I nervous? If I am honest with myself, I know all these changes put me a little out of my comfort zone. I’m moving away from things I am familiar with to systems with new features that I will have to learn and struggle with, at least until I become proficient. I know I can do it and I know you will as well. I’d even bet you’ll get there faster.
Future, here we come!
NEWS YOU CAN USE
- Congressional lawmakers are holding a public hearing on UFOs today for the first time in more than 50 years. Members of a House subcommittee will hear testimony from defense officials on reports of unidentified aerial phenomena and their potential risks to national security.
- President Joe Biden confirmed yesterday the US will redeploy hundreds of troops to Somalia, reversing former President Donald Trump’s decision to pull troops from the country in January 2021.
- JetBlue to launch hostile takeover attempt to acquire Spirit Airlines following Spirit’s rejection of its $3.6B offer in favor of $2.9B merger with Frontier Airlines; Spirit board accepted Frontier deal due to lower regulatory approval risk.
- A black bear wandered onto a Utah middle school campus Monday morning. The bear was spotted at Morgan Middle School around 7 a.m. wandering around an open practice field and was caught on video.
- After a contentious nearly two year effort to drop “Dixie” from its name, the rebranding of St. George’s public university is underway. Say hello to Utah Tech University. Officials say their new name is aligned with their long-term polytechnic vision — to be hands-on and career-focused.
YOUR VOICE
Have any exciting news? Birthdays, babies, weddings, fur-babies, graduations? Share about it in the section on the right --> and upload pics below!
TUESDAY TIP
Acting decisively and sticking with that choice for a designated time period is often better than staying stuck, unsure of which path to choose, writes Scott H. Young. Locking yourself in to a course of action "forces you to stop second-guessing yourself when you need to work," Young writes.
Hope you have a great day.
Wayne
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