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A pond-scum green water tower

I recently was pleased to learn that some Peabody Gazette-Bulletin readers complained to city employees about something they read in the newspaper. I have made comments in the past couple of weeks about you folks not paying attention to important community issues to which I try to alert you, but I must have been wrong. You picked up on this little tidbit with startling alacrity.

About two months ago Peabody public works director Darren Pickens presented the city council with a page of paint samples from which they were supposed to select the new color for the water tower. There was much hemming and hawing and some discussion about "white" and how nice a color it is. They talked about not messing up a good thing, followed by more hemming and hawing, and they finally selected "Toggle Teal." Huh?

Yup, they did pick it. Turns out that Toggle Teal is sort of an algae green . . . or blue. A shade of pond scum. I made an exceedingly brief reference to the Toggle Teal selection in the city council report for that week and apparently choosing that color hit a nerve with the community. Way to go! No one shows up to offer an opinion about the 2008 budget process and a hefty mill levy increase, but let those boys make a color-blind pick on the new water tower hue and all "hue" breaks loose. But you made your point and got their attention.

Mr. Pickens was in attendance at a subsequent meeting to encourage the council to review its Toggle Teal selection. He said he was already tired of answering questions about the color and defending the council's choice. (See? This wasn't his fault. Next time take it right to the council members.) Well, the fellas hemmed and hawed once more and yammered around again and finally settled on a pale blue with Peabody-blue letters. That's always a safe bet around here . . . pale blue and Peabody-blue.

But they are getting there. They have approved and published a reasonable budget and they've selected colors for a water tower . . . no small feat, I might add. I may be running out of things to say about them. Well, no, that's not quite right. I do have a couple more points to make.

This bunch is pretty new and lacks experience. But I am not horrified by what they have done. Actually, I am almost proud of them.

They really did give the budget a wringing out. They looked at all those things that you, the public, complain about and tell them they "should" fix (without telling them how). They picked it apart and put it back together again. They suggested cuts and then they took them back . . . or not. No department got everything it wanted. No employee got everything he wanted. No councilman got everything he wanted either.

However, just like the Toggle Teal selection, when the public said, "oh, no you don't!" they were willing to look again and try for a better choice. They worked hard and gave it good shot. Am I happy with everything they picked? Well, shoot, no . . . did you think I would be? They could have listened to me a whole lot more and I'd have been a whole lot happier.

But then, you know what? I didn't really think the Toggle Teal selection was all that bad. No, really . . . I think we could have turned it into a marketing ploy. The only town in central Kansas (or maybe ALL of Kansas) with a pond-scum green water tower. See how catchy that is? You never know what city council decision might be a hidden winner. Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath and give them a chance.

— SUSAN MARSHALL

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