The Decatur Minute

The following email was sent to all City of Decatur employees from City Manager Peggy Merriss.  While it was written to city employees, it is a message worth sharing with the community.  It is re-printed here with her permission. 

Good afternoon –

The events that have occurred over the past several days here in Decatur, in Minnesota and Louisiana and last night in Dallas have reinforced how our time here on earth can be extremely fragile.  As public servants, we have an enormous responsibility to insure the public safety, health and welfare of our community and to treat our residents, business owners, visitors and each other with dignity and respect. As public servants we know that the connection to community is something that is built upon everyday when we act in good faith and with the best intentions to do good for others.

For me, the past several days have provided sobering moments that I struggle to understand but I continue to believe that together we can build a better world because if we don’t, no one else will.

Please be careful and cautious but do not lose the Decatur values of compassion, empathy, creativity and accessibility .  It is a delicate balance and not easy and I am thankful that each one of you are part of the City of Decatur team.

Last week Elie Wiesel passed away.  He spent a good part of his childhood in a concentration camp. He wrote and spoke about his experiences and how he never let go of hope for a better world.

Here is one of my favorites: “Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.”

Let us stay hopeful, let us pass along hope to others, and let us be the hope for our community.

Peggy Merriss

City Manager