The trees are in full bloom and it's looking very green around town.

With the arrival of spring, it's also time for graduation; both from local high schools and SIU. It's a time when we experience an influx of guests and parents. I would ask that you take an extra minute and make sure your property and neighborhood present a clean and inviting look.

To assist you with this, the City has scheduled its Residential Spring Clean-up Program to begin on Friday on April 26th and continuing on Fridays through May 24th. Be sure to take advantage of this opportunity and get any junk out of the basement and garage that you no longer need. Remember that all items must be at the curb no later than 7:00am on the day of your neighborhood pickup.

With springtime comes chances for bad weather. Hopefully you and your family have an emergency plan in place and everyone knows how to react. When the threat of severe weather arises, the City's Emergency Operations staff and volunteers can be found monitoring and tracking the storms both electronically and from high elevation vantage points. As these storms develop and when the threat level becomes elevated, the storm sirens located throughout the City and on the SIU campus will sound. When you hear the sirens, it is time to take shelter immediately, not get into a vehicle and drive to a safe location. I would also suggest that you invest in a weather alert radio that will automatically activate when storm watches and warnings are issued. They are an inexpensive investment that can easily save lives.

Memorial Day is also right around the corner. The City's Annual Memorial Day Service will once again be held in Woodlawn Cemetery on Monday, May 27th at 10:00 a.m.  Please take time to join us as we pause on this important day to remember the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.