Vermilion Mayor Russ Owens delivered the following report during the Oct. 5 Vermilion City Council meeting, reflecting on the city’s 54th Woollybear Festival before turning his attention to the Nov. 3 Vermilion Local Schools renewal levy and urging residents to support it.
What an absolutely special Woollybear festival our Chamber of Commerce put on this past weekend!
It appeared to me to be one of the best attended Wollybear weekend’s in recent memory and you must know what an honor it is for me to actually take part in the parade and the opportunity to welcome both Vermilion citizens and visitors alike.
A very huge shout out to Fox 8 for their years of participation and support. It would be hard to have the success of Woolybear without them!
A heartfelt thank you to Lou Maglio, Traci McCool, this year’s Parade Marshal Kenny Crumpton, and as always to Little John Rinaldi!
What our Chamber does to actually put this even on, that showcases the very best of our beautiful town, it’s devoted citizens, its candy graving kids, its many wonderful youth groups and its incredible Vermilion Sailor High School Marching Band….you simply cannot begin to imagine the work, the hours spent by the many volunteers that organize, and schedule, and coordinate all of what happens over the weekend.
From the setting up the food court, aligning all of the vendors, programing all of the events, selecting all of the musical and other entertainment….I mean we are just so blessed for their 54 year commitment to showcase Vermilion….so my most heartfelt thanks to the Commerce, all of the volunteers, and especially to Sandy Coe…..Congratulations to you all for your dedication and care for our City.
And now, speaking of caring….as everyone in this room knows, this upcoming election on November 3rd will test just how much Vermilion citizens care.
Care about their town, care about their community, care about our youth, care about their future, in turn care about Vermilion’s future, care about their education.
Our citizens can show that they care by voting for a reduced tax, let me repeat a REDUCED TAX, renewal let me repeat a RENEWAL not NEW levy on November 3rd.
Yet people can rationalize any behavior….as they consistently proven since the beginning of civilizations.
And we will have some of our citizens who will not support lowering their taxes by renewing this levy. And they will do so by making various excuses that will support that decision.
But the hard truth is, they simply do not care.
How do you appeal to people who do not care? How do you get them to care?
Remind them that there is in fact such a thing as civic responsibility. That supporting schools, our communities youth and their families is a civic duty. That our shared community is better, will remain better with community supported school system.
As Vermilion’s Mayor… I care.
I came to this office by committing to start fixing our streets, by fighting against unfair Federal mandates, by solving our long suffering infrastructure problems, by responsibly bring new development, both residential and commercial to our city……because I care.
Winning organizations are built around caring.
Caring for your teammate, caring for your team, caring for your school, caring for your City.
To win, you have to care more than your opponent, more than your competition.
Vermilion is Vermilion because over our history its people cared!
I want to stop the rationalizing of not caring.
Show you care Vermilion…. and vote to approve the Vermilion Schools renewal levy….
And that concludes my report this evening…..