No headline
It is truly incredible to believe that four years has already come and gone as I enter my final days serving as Polson’s mayor. To say it has been an honor would be an understatement. To say it has been a challenge would be accurate. And to say I won’t miss it at all, would be a lie.
What will I miss, you might ask? I will miss having a seat at the table. I will miss being so closely involved with the passionate and hard-working members of our community who are trying to do great things for our citizens and visitors. I will miss learning about the various issues that affect our town, researching them, listening to the citizens who come to the meetings and share their opinions, guiding our Commission through the decision-making process, and casting my vote on these important topics. I will miss writing these articles to inform our community of what is going on with the City. I will miss being a representative for our community. Yes, I will indeed miss this.
On a personal level, I had many life changing events take place over these last four years as well, as I was married and added two little boys to our family. I will never forget this time in my life – being a mayor and a new mom will always go hand-in-hand. At this point in time I’ve hardly known life as one without the other. I know there are many people who questioned my decision to attempt this. I’m sure some thought I should have even resigned. And to be completely honest, I thought about it and was very close to doing so once. My husband was instrumental in keeping me going. He knows me well. He knew that I wanted to be responsible to the people who supported me, and he knew I would be disappointed in myself if I quit. And in addition to that, after a lot of soul searching at that time, my children are also what drove me to continue. Although they’ve made sacrifices for this, I do hope in some ways they have been positively affected by my serving as mayor, as well. It has been a team effort, to be sure. Although they are young, I hope that Rokton and Quaid will one day look back at this time and be proud. That is what drove me to continue to do the best I could for our community, and their future.
In ways it is hard to see this time coming to an end. There are things I did not get to accomplish that I would have liked to. But I have every confidence in our incoming mayor, Paul Briney, and the new and current City Commissioners. I wish them all the best as they continue to move us forward.
I love my hometown. I am incredibly grateful to the citizens who trusted me to serve you over the last four years. I’m appreciative of the Commissioners who worked diligently and professionally beside me. I thank the City staff for continuously answering questions and moving projects forward. I have to say a heartfelt thank you to my team at Country Foods for their flexibility and encouragement. And to my husband, my kids, family and friends – thank you for your sacrifice and support. This has been an adventure, and an honor.
Heather Knutson