I’ve always liked the change from December 31 to January 1. There’s something refreshing, thought provoking, reflective and opportunistic in those hours. I don’t focus too much on “resolutions”¹ nor do I ruminate too long on mistakes made over the previous 12 months. I consider all of those as well as the good times, my many blessings, my family, the doggos and even the big red cat. I guess you could say I try to stay balanced. My routine on New Year’s Eve starts with enjoying and contemplating my thoughts and memories and my ups and downs from the previous year. Against that I make sure to remember that I can only control myself. Trying to alter others is a fool’s gambit. Rather, I try to be a good leader, father, husband, brother, son, uncle, brother-in-law and son-in-law. And against all of that I rely on my faith. Then to the celebration with the local controller, maybe a small group of friends and if we’re lucky a kiddo or two. I like to gather in our home, cook dinner and enjoy the small but most-meaningful things in life. Good conversation and fellowship with those you care about most. Breaking bread² and laughing at our exploits and at ourselves is top priority. Perhaps followed by watching a good movie or dancing in the living room. Easy. Simple. Perfect. And of course, I have to make sure LC and I swap a kiss at midnight.³ That good luck thing is not to be taken lightly!

As most of you know, I’m a bit of a romantic so movies and scenes from movies⁴ dance through my head this time of the year. Movies old and new alike that either focus on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day plays a pivotal role in the movie reel playing in my noggin.⁵⁶ I love scenes with grand ballrooms filled with tuxedoed men and beautiful gowned women dancing and dining. I remember scenes with a full orchestra and a large dance floor. The surroundings of those places are magnificent. Grand halls, classic architecture and over-the-top lobbies. Entrances with beautifully carved crown moldings, dark, intricately woven carpet, polished wood and artwork right out of a museum. Tables are set with fine china, crystal goblets, and more forks and knives that one can count. Some of the finest old hotels appear on screen and feel like castles or palaces. I’ve stayed in some nice hotels but the ones I’m thinking of have a very small clientele and a high room rate!⁷ You gotta love Hollywood and the movies.

So here we are, January of 2023. The local controller is pinching the bridge of her nose. “The point. Get to the point.” Ah yes, here we go. A new year with no doubt many new challenges and with those challenges, opportunities. Given the line of work you dear readers are in some of the “new” challenges will simply be repackaged old challenges. Sort of a new set of wrappings but the same stuff inside. Let’s do a quick check:

Status of the city fleet. Whether you have five vehicles or 500 to tend to they all need maintenance and care. The new wrappings may involve missing computer chips⁸ or a catalytic converter being heisted⁹ but maintenance is maintenance, so to speak.
Passing and maintaining a budget. It’s never an easy thing to do particularly in this age of soaring prices and supply chain problems.
Employee benefits. Obviously you need to know what’s required by state and federal law as well as what your city or town has done on it own. For you newcomers, that’s a lot to learn! Well, even for you who have been around a while a brushing up on the requirements is a good idea.¹⁰
Preparation of parks and for recreational activities in the spring and summer. What sort of shape are you ball fields in? Playground equipment? Baseball/kickball/softball leagues?
Preparation for winter weather including your streets, bridges, water and wastewater plants.
Grants, federal funds and broadband. I mention these to whet your appetite and get your intellectual juices flowing. Ask questions. Attend seminars. Read what the League publishes and the puzzle pieces will fall into place. I guarantee it!

Of course, there’s much more but I hope the list gets your synapsis firing for the new year.

The League’s Winter Conference is right around the corner as well. We’ll be gathering at the Statehouse Convention Center January 11 through the 13. The program looks amazing, but the best part is seeing your municipal colleagues and having time to network and learn. To that end, we’ve built in longer breaks and more opportunities for you to mix and mingle with each other, with League staff, and with sponsors and exhibitors. I’m very excited and cannot wait to see each and everyone of you!

As always in an odd-numbered year, the Arkansas Legislature convenes and 2023 brings us the regular session of the 94th General Assembly. We hope many legislators will join us for Wednesday’s Opening Night Banquet, and spend time with each of you, their constituents, to get a better understanding of what cities and towns do on a daily basis. I encourage you to contact your legislators ahead of time to let them know they are invited and we would love to see them in attendance. It is the perfect opportunity for you engage your legislators over a meal and an enjoyable program.

For timely legislature-related content, look no further than general session IV on Thursday at 3:15 p.m., and general session I at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The 3:15 p.m. session will feature a creative multimedia presentation titled “A Day at the Capitol During the Legislative Session,” and I think it will be entertaining and educational! Finally, on Friday at 8:30 a.m., the session will focus on issues that we expect to see during the 94th General Assembly.

One final word on the legislative session. It is most important that you have a solid relationship with your state representative and senator. You should have their cell phone numbers and they, yours. Remember, the preferred method of communications during a legislative session is texting. More to the point, they need to know what you do and how well you do it. In other words, Be Local. Be Heard. That’s the campaign we unveiled a couple of years ago to drive home the message that local control works. The government closest to the people works the best when those people are allowed to govern themselves without mandates or pre-emptions from the state or federal government. Please speak that mantra early and often!

As we start this new year let’s all take a collective deep breath and a few moments to count our blessings. Cities and towns in Arkansas make the state better. You are directly responsible for that. You show up and do the dirty work, day in and day out. That’s not easy and yet each of you do it effortlessly, with zeal and real glee. You will make this year great. Be proud of what you do. Nobody does it better!

Until next month, Peace.

1
About 4,000 years ago the Babylonians were the first people to note resolutions for the following year. They also were the first to celebrate the new year. I wonder if they had a crystal ball that dropped at midnight?! During a 12-day religious festival known as Akitu, the Babylonians crowned a new king or reaffirmed allegiance to the sitting king and made promises of paying debts and returning borrowed items. Speaking of borrowed, I need to check on the whereabouts of some of my tools. https://bit.ly/3VlqKL0
2
This saying traces back to the Bible and conjures up the history of Jesus breaking bread at the Last Supper. https://bit.ly/3YAYAPb I’ve also heard the saying, and I believe it’s from the Bible, it’s hard to remain enemies when you’ve broken bread together.
3
As with many traditions the exact origin of the midnight New Year’s Eve kiss is a bit murky. Most often it’s traced to two winter festivals, Saturnalia and Hogmanay. Don’t fret, I never heard of them either. Saturnalia stems from ancient Roman times and Hogmanay from the Vikings. Hogmanay is still celebrated in Scotland. Gotta love the Scots! https://bit.ly/3WiMQis And yes, that’s a Reader’s Digest citation!
4
The mere mention of “scenes from movies” has the local controller on edge. She is not a fan of me exercising my artistic love of movie scenes via clicking from channel to channel until running across a movie I’ve seen multiple times and catching it during a critical scene. I have to watch it. It’s the law. So, I watch and when it’s complete the clicking begins anew. Oh boy, you should see her right now! Eyes slightly narrowed, brow furrowed and lips pursed. Score one for moi!
5
In no particular order here a few of my favorites. The schlocky New Year’s Eve (2011) directed by Garry Marshall with an ensemble cast including Michelle Pfeiffer, Halle Berry, Jessica Biel, Zac Efron, Jon Bon Jovi (I don’t know how to do a footnote within a footnote. And LC now has the upper hand. “Thank goodness! Nobody needs a footnote within a footnote. Come to think of it, you really should consider the concept of NO footnotes!” Moi-1, LC-1.5. The half point is for her earnestness. Where was I? Oh, yeah. Jon Bon Jovi. LC loves him and Keith Urban. If either knocks on the front door at Casa Hayes I likely will be alone in about five seconds.) and Robert DeNiro to name but a few. Here are a few more: An American in Paris starring Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron, Trading Places, an Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd laugh fest, An Affair to Remember starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, and the original Oceans’s 11 which essentially stars the Rat Pack including Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop. I love all the Ocean’s films not just the original. The versions with George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and many others are terrific. So is the primarily all-female cast in Ocean’s 8 starring Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Sarah Paulson and Awkwafina to name a few.
6
The term “noggin” traces back to the 16th century although it had nothing to do with one’s head. At that time, it referred to a small cup or drinking vessel. Somewhere in the late 1800s and early 1900s, noggin was used in the United States as a boxing term. Or if you prefer, a pugilist term. Talk about hitting the nail on the head! See what I did there?! Oh boy, LC is having none of this. “Pugilist?! Really?! What’s wrong with you?!” For more on the history of the term noggin or the definition of pugilism click here: https://bit.ly/3PLKLcz, https://bit.ly/3FEwLfS
7
The Plaza in NYC…wow! https://bit.ly/3PJ6VvQ The Pierre in NYC…double wow! https://bit.ly/3PH9GxX The Langham in the City of Angels! I almost went with triple wow but the Local Controller would have had a stroke. https://bit.ly/3hJlZND The Four Seasons Beverly Hills Wilshire! https://bit.ly/3G9CKe5 The Waldorf Astoria in Chicago! https://bit.ly/3VivxNj Alas, I’ve never stayed or even been near any of these.
8
I pause here to mention my own predicament. “Of course you do.” Says the local controller in her not-at-all warm and fuzzy tone. I have a GMC Sierra pickup. I’ve put nearly 14k miles on it in less than nine months. Want to know what it’s missing? Chips. Not the crunchy ones you dip in salsa. The ones that make computer thingies work like heaters and such. I’m not happy about it but boy howdy, this time of year LC needs her truck seat fully heated!
9
I must say I sorta know what a catalytic converter does in that it helps clean a car’s carbon emission but beyond that I don’t know much so I did a little reading. Essentially the converter takes the bad hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides and makes them into less-bad carbon dioxide, nitrogen and water vapor. The convertor is usually about the size of a loaf of bread and easily removed by thieves with a saw or cutting torch. But why steal them? I found that out, too! LC is not at all happy with the sojourn! Yay Mark! If you’re keeping score: Moi-2, LC-1.5. They are stolen because they contain three precious metals, namely platinum, palladium and rhodium. The bad guy steals them and sells them. https://bit.ly/3WxVKIL
10
Here’s a link to several publications of the League’s that I consider must reads at the beginning of the year: https://armuni.org/3XG4VKx In particular take a look at FLSA: 21 Things You Need to Know and Municipal Law in Arkansas: Questions and Answers. I also suggest you look at your municipality’s personnel or employee handbook and the organizational ordinance required by state law.