022712 State of the City Address – Looking forward to 2012

  • By Sharon Haught
  • February 15, 2012
  • 331
                        
Summary: During his State of the City Address before City Council on Feb. 6, Wooster Mayor Bob Breneman looked at what lies ahead for the city in 2012. Series Introduction: When Mayor Bob Breneman delivered his annual State of the City Address before Wooster City Council on Feb. 6 he looked back on the milestones the city reached in 2011 before turning his attention to the challenges that lay ahead for the city in 2012 and 2013. In the second of a three part series we’ll look at what lies ahead for the city in 2012. While 2011 was a year of transition as the City of Wooster adjusted to conducting the city’s business with 15 percent fewer employees, “right now I feel pretty good about who we are as an organization,” Mayor Bob Breneman told the members of Wooster City Council during his State of the City Address on Feb. 6. “With the staffing levels that we have and the people that we have in place I am very comfortable with where we are at the present time, said Breneman noting that the city does plan to refill any positions that open up in 2012 through retirement or resignation. “We are very thin,” said Breneman cautioning council that if the city had a major snow storm like the three day storm that struck the region several years ago, the city likely doesn’t have enough staff members to man the plows throughout the duration of the storm. “We don’t have that depth any longer,” said Breneman. Breneman also noted that the city’s decision to leave the Director of Administration position open and shifting additional duties to City Engineer Joel Montgomery and economic development administrator Justin Starlin “is working very well.” “I appreciate what both of those gentlemen bring to the table,” said Breneman adding “I am pleased that we have moved forward with that for the time being.” On the budget front Breneman noted that city officials are “always looking for ways to work within our means” in ways small and large. In addition to implementing a decision to outsource the operation of the city’s pools, the city has also entered into a contract with the state Auditor to conduct a full review of the city’s operations to search for more cost savings. The city will also continue to seek grant funding to enable the city to move forward on a number of major infrastructure projects. “We do have a Transportation Enhancement Program grant of $250,000 for the Madison Ave. gateway into the downtown and OARDC,” said Breneman adding that the project is expected to start this summer. “We have applied for two bike trail grants, another Transportation Enhancement Program grant for the Columbus Rd. gateway, a Job Ready Sites grant for BioHio for the infrastructure for that facility and a few water line grants,” said Breneman adding “the trouble with that is there are many applicants for those grants these days and very little money is coming out so grant funding is starting to get tighter and drying up.” Breneman noted that the city’s “downtown is still growing and moving forward” in 2012. “We’re looking at an extension of Streetscape south on Market Street to the Madison Avenue entrance way,” said Breneman adding that the city is also “looking at trying to improve the building fronts and the buildings themselves along Liberty from Beaver to Beall and beyond so we can move outward from the central core of the Square.” Breneman did express concern about the toll the soft economy has taken on the city’s ability to plan. “This money crunch - this economic downturn - has forced us to be reactive in how we operate instead of doing a proactive approach on how to plan things.” said Breneman. “We’ve got to get back into that proactive mode and we are working internally to do that but when finances are tight it is a difficult role to be in.” An improving economy will certainly help. “It looks like the economy may be starting to turn the corner at least locally,” said Breneman. “Economically locally we are showing positive signs. Our tax revenue was up approximately eight percent over 2010 and local employers are mostly busy and positive towards the future,” said Breneman also pointing to the lower unemployment rate. “We are very pleased to have those kinds of numbers starting to roll in,” said Breneman.


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