A major storm with reports of a tornado was confirmed passing through Pontoon Beach on Friday the 16th resulting in significant damage throughout the area. The mayor of Pontoon Beach was dead silent not being seen or heard from Friday 16, Saturday 17, Sunday 18, Monday 19 then he finally decided to crawl out of his guitar case long enough on Tuesday to tell the residents what to do with their downed trees and limbs. I guess any damaged drywall, ruined carpeting and furniture from damaged leaking roofs is anybody's guess since it was never mentioned in his brief facebook post. Rotted foods from deep freezers and refrigerators as a result of long power outages will have a stench that will be detectable in Collinsville by the time the trash service day is here. The mayor did find the time to reach out on facebook a couple of days after the storm though to make sure to announce that his band Rewind would be playing at the social club this coming weekend. Yes you're reading that right. While we are digging out from under fallen trees, tarping roofs to keep the continued rain out, emptying our refrigerators and freezers of all the perished food and dealing with insurance companies and adjusters, the mayor's priority was to advertise his latest gig.

Where are the dumpsters? What are the people supposed to do with the trash, drywall, carpet, rotted food, all that's mentioned above? Most of all, no direction, no information, no leadership and no mayor. There is a lot more to running and leading a village than planning the party at the beach which obviously has become the number one most important issue to the mayor. The entire community has been slowly in a steady decline as the mayor's main focus has blinded him to all other issues and situations, one short drive down Pontoon Road coming out of Granite City and all the way down to highway 111 is all the proof you need that the area has gone to hell. The mayor has served us well but it's time for him to pass the baton and retire fully. There is a need for new leadership that will continue on the legacy but refocus on all issues and pull the village out of the state it's been allowed to fall into. I don't know when the next election rolls around, but hopefully some civic minded person will be willing to run for mayor and take over with a renewed interest. There have been qualified people who have served within the village in some capacity that would be great candidates for this position like Chris Hankins or Terry Kreher. I hope a newer younger potential candidate will give this some serious consideration.

Let me repeat again the current mayor has served us well and would be leaving a great legacy of accomplishments, but like in most political or elected positions especially mayor they almost always take the position with great drive and excitement but with years passing and several elections under their belt the spark and energy needed to remain at the top of your game eventually diminishes and rightly so and this is when you politely step aside and call it a job well done.