Letter from the Mayor: October 2023

September 27, 2023

It’s never easy to find the perfect way to communicate information to the citizens of Nixa. Some of our citizens read the monthly newsletter, some follow the official city social media pages, and others get their information from friends, family, or other social media pages. Despite all the various ways we distribute relevant public information, one thing I still hear often is “I didn’t know that was going on”. I understand it can be frustrating to learn that a decision has been made by city government which you weren’t aware of until after the fact.

We have been working hard to make it easier for the citizens of Nixa to be in the loop regarding the information that they want to be aware of. The city continues to receive awards for our excellent financial transparency, but in my opinion, just having information available isn’t enough, we need to make it easier to find and proactively push the information out.

This is why we create a monthly email newsletter, post news to the website, send press releases to try to earn media coverage, update our official social media accounts regularly, and even include a little news on the back of the utility bills when we mail them out and give an in-person news update once a month during lunch at the Nixa Senior Center.

Nixa recently updated our website and added a button on the home page labeled “Transparency”. On that page, you will find links to everything from Budget & Financial Reports, Code of Ordinances, Utility Rates, Planning & Zoning Reports, and much more. On the home page, you will also find the Meeting and Events Calendar which lists all city council meetings, upcoming events at city hall, and upcoming events in the community.

One of the most important things you can find on our home page is the section which says, “Sign up for News and Alerts.” You can use this to set up your email preferences for news alerts, but we are also working to make it possible to get text notifications when news is published regarding any topic you subscribe to.

Another page of our website I encourage you to visit when you need help or have questions is the Mayor and Council page. This page has contact information for each council member and myself, so you can reach out to us directly. If you can’t find that page, just scroll to the bottom of the home page and you can also find our contact information right there.

Don’t forget, you can always watch the city council meetings from the comfort of your own home on our YouTube channel. We stream the meetings live and the recordings remain on the channel as an archive. The agenda for a city council meeting is typically posted at least three days prior to the meeting, so make sure you review the agendas to see if anything that will be voted on will impact you in any way. We need your input! Making decisions for the city is never easy and it’s even more difficult when there is little to no input from the community.

I truly love serving the amazing people of Nixa and I appreciate the feedback that we already receive. The best part of my job is getting to have great conversations with so many amazing people who provide very valuable input which informs our decisions. That’s why I encourage you to do your part to stay in the loop, be informed, and read the information we send out.

Sincerely,

Mayor Jarad Giddens