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State of the City Rochester City Council
I hope by now all of you have relaxed from the worry of Y2K. We did
survive---I do not believe I ever had any real doubts that we would. In fact the
farther we looked into it the better I felt about the City of
I hope all of you appreciate the tremendous job the City Crews did this
past week with snow removal. The Street Department deserves the most credit as
this is where the responsibility falls for snow removal but the Water and Waste
Water Departments supplied help which in turn leaves them short handed and
someone has to pick up that share of the work load. Several nights the Street
Department crews came in at The Street Department did an excellent job last Fall with leaf pick-up. I do see a change with leaf pick-up when it comes to bagged leaves. The City is going to have to stop picking up leaves in plastic bags---paper bags will be acceptable but the plastic bags just do not fit into the composting program. City clean-up is another area I hope to see some changes made this year. Each year we have tried to improve the program for the citizens and community. The City plans to build a loading ramp for the trucks so items can be dumped directly into a dumpster and city crews will not have to handle items twice. I think this will speed up the process as well as cut down on the lifting of heavy items. The other change I hope to see is making use of temporary help. This worked out real well with leaf pick-up and I think will work with the clean-up program as well. We have a leaf pick-up machine and chipper that needs to be replaced. We are hopeful of finding grant funds to help with this but in any event we have several machines to replace as soon as possible. The Fire Department for the most part is in pretty good shape as long as we do not consider the Fire Station its self. The Fire Station is a project we need to keep in front of us but it is also something we can live with for several years. The heating system has been up-dated and the new furnace can be used in a new building as well..
Senator Tom Weatherwax was very beneficial with two projects this year.
The department had one IRIS helmet which they raised funds to purchase. Build
Indiana Funds will be use to purchase the 2nd camera for The City is starting to make some real progress with the Police Department. Vehicles are well maintained and in overall good condition. We need to establish a rotation system for trading vehicles and stick with it. We get into some pretty good repair bills when we try to drive the cars in excess of 100 thousand miles, they do not have any trade-in value at that point either.
When I first became Mayor the City of The present software for the Police department was purchase in 1991, with all the advances in technology I am surprised we have been able to use it this long. This is something we will need to think about up-dating in the next year or two. The Water Department---is working on their wellhead protection program which has to be turned in to the State by March of 2001. This is to insure the community will have safe water under virtually any type adverse condition. This involves the Water Department, Water Board, Fulton County Officials and citizens. The Waste Water Department is seeing hard work pay off in the overall condition and operation of the plant, in the process the plant and Superintendent Herb Corn have received several awards. They are now working towards an EPA Region V Award. We see numerous meetings and training programs taking place in the meeting room of the garage area so others are realizing we are in a central location and with adequate facilities. The Rochester City Plan commission has put in a lot of long and extra hours this year but the Comprehensive Plan for the City has been up-dated for the first time in 30 years. This plan was adopted by the City Council in September of this past year. The Plan commission is working on the Zoning and Sub-division Ordinances at this time and I anticipate they will be ready for the Council to review within the next 45 days. Bringing the zoning map up to date has been a real challenge for the Plan Commission, from this point it will have to be presented to the Council. In its present paper and crayon form this is not easy and impossible to keep up to date.
Citizens play a big part in the Tree Board, this is one area I have not
had any luck getting a council member involved. The board meets the first
Tuesday of each month at
The Sidewalk/Traffic Commission has come along way in the past two years.
A year ago they were responsible for new sidewalks on
I do not believe I saw any of you this past week end on the sledding hill
but a good number of citizens spent some time there. I would think for the most
part they would have been younger citizens but there were time when the hill was
packed. We are very fortunate to have an active Park Board. This past year, and
basically the board members have; had a Big Help Day to clean up the
These board and commissions function basically through the involvement of
citizens. I for one ---and I trust the community as a whole ----should
appreciate the hours these citizens put in for the City of Several areas we need to move on, your support as well as the support of citizens will be required. Some type of mapping system for the city. If we are not going to be able to join with the County in the very near future the City needs to determine how this will be accomplished. We are making progress with sidewalks but for the most part curbs have been overlooked due to lack of funds. We need to establish a program for new curbs and curb replacement. I
feel strongly the city need a "grant" seeking board or commission. The
Town of
We have been working on a Web-site for the City of
I am looking forward to our planning session next Monday evening January
31st at One final thought I would like to share with you, working on the annual budget is always an interesting experience. I always get the feeling the Council thinks the Departments Heads will work to spend every dime they have in the budget. The City needs to have funds available to work with. Every year we are under budget in our spending, this year was no exception. It appears spending was $411,000.00 less that allowed in the budget. I am looking forward to working with you, we have a great council, excellent city employees and a great community. I am honored to have the opportunity to serve the City for another four years.
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