November 2020
I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Like many of you, the Taylor household was not a typical Thanksgiving holiday. We did not have any family gathering this year due to the continued concerns surrounding Covid-19. These are without question very difficult times for many of you and my heart and prayers go out to our entire community as we all are dealing with the impact and effects of Covid-19. However, there is hope as a vaccine has been developed and I believe we may see the first distribution of this vaccine before the end of 2020. I personally am looking forward to a better and brighter 2021.
The city has continued to be very busy this year despite Covid-19. I am very excited to report that Lawson has seen 25 new home starts in the past three years compared to 10 homes over a ten-year period prior to me taking office. The exciting news is there are several more that are being built as I write this letter. Additionally, the city has been in contact with several developers who have communicated interest in building homes in Lawson. We also had another successful year at the Lawson Community Pool despite Covid-19. The attendance numbers were very strong and we once again received numerous positive reviews. Thank you to all of you who helped in making the pool a success in 2020. As you may have seen and was reported back in June, the city opened phase I of the Lawson RV Park at the end of May. The was a big success for our first year as we had a solid number of site rentals throughout the summer and fall season. Additionally, the city has made the decision to keep the RV park open during the winter months as many campers have communicated interest in camping during the winter. We have received positive commentary on our first phase of the RV Park as well as learned many things that we will focus on in the off season to make the park even better next year. We hope to begin working on Phase II in 2021. The City Lake Event Center has been in full swing this summer and fall hosting numerous events. This has been another positive income generator for the city along with the RV park and city pool. Finally, I am sure you have seen the construction at the city park in downtown. Through the efforts of Chief Summa and Matt Nolker, the city has received a grant through Missouri American Water (Building Better Communities) to build a splash park. Over 75% of this project is being funded through the grant. This will be open in next May time for Memorial Day weekend and coincide with the opening of the pool. Finally, the city and I have been in contact with several key grocers over the past two years. I have commented to many of you that working to get a grocery store in Lawson will take time and we needed to show growth in our community to attract a grocery store. Well, I believe the time is now to aggressively pursue a grocery store for Lawson. The council, city staff, and I are all in agreement. However, it is not going to be easy. The upside for Lawson is our community is growing. The downside is the fact that we had a grocery store at one time and it closed, coupled with the fact that we have two Price Choppers, an Aldi, and Walmart Supercenter all within a 10-mile radius of Lawson. Though these are comments that I have received from several prospectus grocers, we will not give up. In the coming months we will be putting a full court press on a couple of opportunities to see if we can attract a grocer to come to Lawson and be part of our growing community. Stay tuned for more to come on this opportunity.
I want to give a shoutout to the Lawson High School girls volleyball team for their accomplishment of making it to the state finals (first time in school history) and coming home with 4th place. This is without a doubt an exciting team accomplishment. Great job girls! As well, I wanted to send out a congratulations to Coach Dunn for his 200th career victory as the Lawson High School’s head football coach. This is quite a feat and a great accomplishment.
Finally, I want to invite all of you to come out and support the Lawson Lighting Ceremony which will be held this Saturday, December 5th at the Lawson City Park. I have included the breakdown of events and much like last year’s ceremony, we will have some local Chiefs and Channel 41 celebrities in town to help celebrate the holiday season with all of you as well as provide some giveaways. Do not miss this opportunity and bring family and friends to celebrate the season with the Chamber of Commerce, and my wife and I this Saturday.
I started this letter with the obvious challenges from Covid-19. I want to end this letter with hope and happiness as we look towards Christmas and the New Year. Let us all be thankful for what we do have and share our love for one another. 2021 will be a better year.
Upcoming Important Dates:
- December 5th – Lawson Lighting Ceremony
- December 28th- 6:30 PM City Council Meeting
Your Mayor,
Greg Taylor
Lawson Lighting Ceremony Breakdown of Events
4:15 pm Little Cheer & Dance Group from Richmond
4:30 pm Santa arrives on fire truck
4:45 pm HS Cheerleaders
5:00 pm Sassaphrass Quartet from KC Chorus
5:15 pm Chiefs & Channel 41 Celebrity Giveaways
(Trent Bryant, Ricky Siglar, & Gary Lezak)
5:30 pm Lights come on
5:45 pm HS Choral group
6:00 pm Twas the Night before Christmas with Mrs. Green