Guest Column: Mayor Keith T. Pierce

“Of the Village park, a treatment plant, Speedway events ... and the decision not to seek re-election as mayor”

ODESSA, August 9, 2016 -- Another summer has flown by in Odessa. As we all fly through our days with baseball games, birthday parties, and graduations to attend, things continue to happen in our Village.

The most exciting thing for me that has continued to proceed is our work on the Village park next to the old Mill Creek. With all the efforts from our DPW Department and excavating work performed by Cookie's Construction, it is really starting to look like a park. The old Viaduct is completely visible from anywhere in the park now. If you still have not viewed this area, I strongly encourage you to take a short walk to the “park” and see for yourself how impressive it will be. A special word of thanks to recent Odessa graduate, Ashton Furney, for his many hours of work on his own time to help make this milestone a reality. Ashton and a few friends spent many hours at the park with just pruners removing years of overgrowth by hand. Ashton has since moved on to serve in our U.S. military and we wish him all the best!

Another wonderful aspect of our new park is that our Village Fire Department has gained an area to both train in, as far as rope rescue training, and a possible extra water source for any large fires we may have that may tax our Village water supply. It is a great area for our Village with boundless opportunities and potential uses. I again encourage you all to go and see what we are achieving.

The second news item I want to share with you involves the Village sewer system we have all been working on for several years now. This has been a very time-consuming and at times frustrating project. So it makes me very happy to pass along some potentially good news on this front. We have been approached by a company in Indiana that has come up with a very innovative form of wastewater treatment. It is basically large wheels with algae on them which cleans the water.

The treatment plants are small and can be built rather quickly and can be added to at any time that the system needs to be expanded. The treatment plant would basically look like a greenhouse. Now I have very much oversimplified the process -- there is some science involved -- but the engineering firm we are presently working with thinks it is definitely something to check into. That’s not all! Since this company is relatively new to the market, having only built a few dozen of these plants in the midwest, they have offered to build our treatment facility at no charge so that they can use it as a demonstration site for other prospective customers.

Obviously this is a huge opportunity for our little Village, potentially saving us large sums of money over having to pay to have a treatment plant built. The other cost savings would be in maintenance. We have been told that the cost of maintaining these plants is far lower than conventional treatment plants. As I know, there is no such thing as a free meal. With that in mind, this company has offered to fly the Village Board out to Indiana to see several of these plants in action and speak to the municipalities that own them so that we can all have a better understanding of how they work and what it means to run one.

I wish I could be better versed in how these plants work and able to better inform you, the residents, of what’s involved, but at this point it’s just better to wait for our trip and come back with better information for you all. One interesting thing I do know is that when the plant is built, they will introduce actual algae obtained from our own creek to help treat the water! Very interesting, stayed tuned!

Our annual summer paving project is scheduled to begin this Friday the 12th. We will complete the second half of Speedway that we started a couple of years ago. Please try to avoid the area if possible; it makes the job go much quicker and safer.

Also this weekend, on the 13th, the Odessa Wesleyan Church will be holding its first-ever car show on its property at the end of Speedway. It hopes to make this a yearly event that can grow into some type of festival like we used to have with the Old Home Days many years ago. I would encourage you all to make a point of stopping by and showing your support for an event intended to bring people to our Village.

The final bit of information I wanted to pass along to you all is of a personal nature. After many months of debating, thinking and worrying, I have finally come to the conclusion that I will not seek re-election to the office of Mayor in April. This has been a very difficult decision for me to make. Some days I want to stay to finish projects that have been started and begin ones still in my mind. I have said for eight years now that I had to see the Village park done before I was not elected Mayor or I chose not to run. Unfortunately, I don’t think that is going to happen. Too much to do, not enough time to get it done!

It is a very bittersweet time for me. Much of the time I completely enjoy being your Mayor and I truly believe that I and the Village Board have done some impressive things in what will be my eight years in office, and I also believe we are on the verge of even bigger things in the next few years. I have often heard many people, whether it be a sports figure or public official, say they just knew when it was time to leave. I know that it's time. It’s time for new ideas and a new energy in our Village. It’s time for someone to step forward and build on the momentum the Village Board has established in recent years.

I am sharing this information with you all now so that anyone who has the heart and ambition to take on the role of Mayor can begin to attend meetings and workshops and get a feel for what the job entails and be sure it’s a role you truly want.

In closing, I have been truly honored to be the Mayor of Odessa for the last eight years and I will miss it. As hard as some times have been, I would not change a thing from those years. We have grown. I have grown. I hope that I have become a better person for having done it. Thank you and God Bless.

Keith T. Pierce
Mayor of Odessa