Dear Town of Ekalaka & Residents of Carter County,

I was sitting here pondering what to say as we begin 2021. The first word that came to my mind about our community is resilient.

I have lived in Ekalaka for over 50 years, and it always touches me how this community cares for those who are hurting, alone and struggling.

I am so thankful that we have so many in this area who step up to do the hard things. Those at the hospital and nursing home have had to work tirelessly considering the pandemic. They have had to put their own needs and families aside to care for our loved ones.

Our emergency services are top notch. The EMT’s take time from their jobs to help those in the community and give them wonderful professional care. The local volunteer firemen are dedicated, well trained and have saved several acres. The law enforcement work all hours keeping our community safe.

The teachers have had to modify how to teach students remotely, how to encourage wearing a mask, and yet make it normal. They are so creative, and we are blessed to have them making a difference in our children’s lives.

Thank you to the community members who knew we needed some holiday cheer and put together an event in short order. Both Christmas trees were beautiful, and Main Street looked very festive this year!

The town council has worked on several items and seen many changes throughout 2020. The biggest change was saying “HAPPY RETIREMENT” to Elston Loken, Public Works Director. Elston has kept things “running” for over 36 years. His experience and knowledge will be missed.

We welcome Clayton Stieg as the new Public Works Director. He has been working hard on learning the ropes.

The lifeguards, Claire, Emily, and Kat, did a great job this summer keeping the pool open as much as possible and COVID free. Brenda & Julie also made the town look pretty spiffy with all their mowing and maintenance.

We changed the hours at the dump to have it open an extra day. We felt that the use of “the dump key” warranted another day for the community to use the dump.

We made improvements on some of our streets. We are still working on drainage issues. Councilman Jim has worked very hard with the staff to trouble shoot these problems.

We have other projects that we are working on such as the flood plain and a water project. These items take a lot of planning and even more money. Kitty has done a terrific job with writing grants, and we have been awarded several.

We have had quite the turnover in council members this year. We started with Raquel Williams, Jim Mackay, Dave Loudermilk and Cindy Quade. Libby Barth took over for Cindy. Clayton Stieg took over for Dave, and then AJ Limberger took over for Clayton. Currently your council members are Jim Mackay, Raquel Williams, Libby Barth and AJ Limberger.

We are pleased to see the progress on the new healthcare facility. The town is glad that they are able to help with grant funding to purchase equipment for the inside of the building.

Thank you to all the businesses in Ekalaka that have worked hard to stay open, adhere to guidelines, and serve our community. Things got pretty creative in March, April and May and I am so proud of how everyone adjusted.

Until next time, take care and stay safe.

Mayor Vicki L. Fix