State of the City

2009

Good evening and thank you for attending tonight's State of the City address.

The year 2008 brought many challenges to our city. We faced changes in our property tax system, road salt was in short supply causing large spikes in the purchase price, oil prices soared and the national economy took a downturn. This downturn caused jobs to be lost in our community. These are times when public servants must stand tall in the face of adversity and find new ways to overcome our challenges and guide our city to a better tomorrow.

For the betterment of Peru, we will overcome the challenge. We are fortunate to have many dedicated and devoted office holders that tirelessly work toward a positive future for the citizens they have been elected to serve. I would like to thank all employees of the City of Peru for another job well done in 2008. A special thank you to all department heads, city council members, committees, City Hall staff and cabinet members for your service to me and to the community. I appreciate and respect you all.

I would also like to recognize Pastor Rod Correll and Mr. George Dinkel. Pastor Correll serves as our Council Chaplain. Mr. Dinkel attends all of our city council meetings as well. They not only offer the prayer to begin our monthly meetings, they are continually praying for the betterment of our community. I thank you for your prayers and for your service.

In the past year, we continued to see growth in our community. It was not at the same level as in years past; however, it was still very positive. We saw $1,629,141.00 in new residential construction and $16,868,314.00 in new commercial construction. These projects created jobs for construction workers and for employees at these new businesses that were established. It does not replace all of the jobs lost, but it is a step in the right direction.

City and County officials, along with the Miami County Economic Development Authority are working together to find new opportunities that will create jobs for our citizens. This task is made more difficult by the current economic climate and the fact that every city across the nation is searching for the same opportunity.

So, what must we do to better position ourselves in the eyes of potential employers?

You have heard me say many times that we must first make our city more attractive to investors. Even in these difficult times, we must find ways to improve what our city has to offer. For that reason, we are continuing to move forward on the North Broadway project. When completed, this project will open opportunities for development along North Broadway and US 24. I believe that we will see growth in that area much like we have seen along West Main Street.

The extension of West Washington Street will also be a major part of developing this area. Extending this street will allow us the ability to develop 500 acres of prime location property. This will bring more new businesses and jobs to our community. We are hoping to have final plans completed for this project by spring and appreciate the continuing support of the city council.

Even in difficult times, we must continue to plan for the future. We must be ready to act when opportunities arise. As Henry Ford once said "Before everything else, getting ready is the secret of success."

The great thing about these projects is that we have not used any property tax dollars. The money for North Broadway will come from Community Economic Development Income Tax and a federal grant. The money used to begin Washington Street is coming from revenue we received from the sale of unused city property. We are doing our best to be fiscally responsible.

Our Peru Utilities will also be undertaking a major project in the Oakdale area. For more years than most people who live in Oakdale want to remember, we have had flooding problems. With cooperation between the City, Peru Utilities and the residents a design has been completed and work will soon begin to eliminate the flooding concerns and return a better quality of life to this area. Special thanks to councilwoman Phyllis Torrence for her involvement in this project.

The city is also looking to improve our downtown appearance. Recently, Sandy Chittum and Holly Ward represented the city in accepting our recognition as a new member in the Indiana Main Street program. This program will help renovate our downtown and allow us access to renovation grants. Improving and protecting our downtown is of vital importance to the success of our community. I would like to thank Sandy, Holly and our downtown committee for their willingness to serve this community. You have my support.

We are also working on the creation of a Downtown Historic District Commission. Cathy Wright of Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana is helping us to complete this task. Between Indiana Main Street and the Historic District Commission, we can create great improvements to our downtown that we can all be proud of.

As we continue to make improvements in our community, we must also continue to promote high academic standards. It may be an old cliché, but education is the key to building stronger communities. Dr. Andrew Melin and his staff at Peru Community Schools are doing an excellent job in preparing our students for higher education. They have created a new program called "Career Academy." This program is a partnership between the School Corporation and local businesses. The intent is to help students choose what career they might be interested in and then take the courses that will help them to prepare for that career. Leadership Miami County is working with Dr. Melin to help make this initiative successful. Local businesses will further help them prepare by allowing internships. We should all appreciate their efforts.

We are also continuing with our Youth Leadership Summit. City Clerk-Treasurer Jackie Gray continues to provide the leadership for this program. The summit is for 8^th and 9^th grade students in all three Miami County schools.

In 2006, the City, as well as the County, made a financial obligation to Ivy Tech Community College in order to bring them to Peru. This was one of the best investments this community has ever made. Their presence here is a great asset and the citizens of Peru can now receive a college degree in their home town. This has been a true success story. Student population has risen from 231 in the fall of 2006 to around 600 for the spring 2009 semester. We are truly becoming a community of learners. Increasing our educational achievement increases our trained work force and better job opportunities. In our technological age, "life-long learning" is an absolute necessity. Donna Schaffhausen and her staff have done an exceptional job of administrating the progress of this facility. Thank you Donna and the entire Ivy Tech family for all that you do.

Our Street Department does a great job keeping our city clean and attractive for the citizens of Peru. This department, in 2008, removed 6000 tons of garbage. This number does not include the leaves and brush that was picked up, as well as the 3,906 yards of dirt removed from our streets by our street sweepers. This not only helps us comply with the Clean Water Act by not allowing this dirt to get into our waterways, but it also gives our city the clean appearance we want to project to potential developers.

When I look at the amount of trash we are dumping into a landfill and the cost associated with it, I also look at other options we could implement in handling this trash. Currently, we spend in the neighborhood of $200,000.00 a year for the right to dump trash in a landfill. We are transporting our trash to the Wabash Landfill and this is costly. We not only have the time associated with driving to the landfill, but we also have fuel and maintenance costs and a fuel surcharge that the landfill implemented; consequently, the cost keeps climbing. These costs, in addition to the environmental concerns associated with landfills, have prompted me to move this issue up the priority chart.

I have created a new commission that will research any and all options that we can use to eliminate the need for using a landfill which in turn will reduce the city budget by over $200,000.00. This commission will be known as the "green team". Although they are in the very early stages of researching this issue, I know that they will be doing a great service for our community. Members of the "green team" are with us this evening. They are Tom Gustin, Jeff Jernberg, Dennis See and Joey Martin. I appreciate your willingness to serve.

Further efforts to reduce your tax dollars can be seen in our Building, Zoning and Code Enforcement Department. In 2008, this department received $48,602.00 in permit fees and liens. This amount paid for our Zoning Administrator, Code Enforcement Officer, summer mowing crew and half of the secretary's wages. This equates to a 34% reduction in property tax dollars needed for that budget.

Keeping our city safe is always a high priority. Our Police and Fire Departments continue their efforts to maintain a high training standard that will better serve our citizens. The Police Department completed 1742 hours of training while the Fire Department completed 2022 hours. The Peru Police Department also received $92,633.50 in grants to help reduce the overall budget. The Fire Department has received $12,345.00 in grant money.

Calls for service to the Police Department increased in 2008. This past year our officers received 17,337 calls for help. That is approximately 48 calls for assistance every day of the year, not including routine traffic patrols. We also had to dispatch our canine officer, Diesel, on 160 occasions. These calls resulted in 597 criminal arrests. Our Drug Task Force handled 80 cases which resulted in 201 charges being filed and 102 individual arrests. As you can see, they have been extremely busy.

The Fire Department completes many activities within the year. Not only do they answer fire calls, they also go on medical runs, rescue runs and hazardous material runs. All activities combined generated 858 calls for help. They also perform building inspections, station tours, fire extinguisher checks and teach fire prevention to our elementary students. The efforts of our public safety personnel are appreciated.

Our Park Board is working with all the organizations that use our park facilities. The intent is to find new ways to improve our park system and better serve our youth and adults who benefit from them. The Peru Little League is working on a new master plan to add a new playing field and new restrooms. They will also be making other necessary improvements to West City Park which will be made possible through grant dollars applied for by the Park Board.

It is important to have quality recreational facilities in our community, especially for our youth. The young people here need to have activities available to them that will promote good health and give them positive programs that will help direct their lives. Promoting beneficial youth programs is always a good investment. Unfortunately, there are times when the investment cannot be made. Such is the case with Miller Pool. In 1999 the YMCA was concerned that the money left in a trust by Elbert Miller would no longer support the pool's operation. The YMCA approached the City to see if it would be possible for the City to take control of the pool. Knowing there was a financial obligation to operating the pool, the City still decided to take on this responsibility.

In the years since, the pool continued to need repairs and maintenance. Three years ago we met with interested parties to seek help in financing the pool's operation. There was an understanding that $10,000.00 a year would be raised to help with the cost of maintenance. Unfortunately, those funds were not raised and it continued to be the burden of city government, with some help from county government, to find the funds necessary to operate the pool. Approximately $5000.00 was raised this year to help off set cost overruns.

In addition, the attendance at the pool has declined and the number of weeks of operation has been reduced. The pool is open for approximately 7 weeks. Adding in rainy days and cool temperatures, we further reduce the number of opportunities individuals have to enjoy the pool. We are experiencing a reduction in usage and an increase in cost.

Today, local government is being asked to reduce spending to control property taxes. We have reduced our work force, reduced benefits and eliminated unnecessary property. However, we still need to reduce and that is why the decision has been made to not open Miller Pool in 2009. The City will try to find other viable options for the pool. That could be leasing, selling or finding another entity that would be willing and able to take on the responsibility of funding the operation of this pool.

The pool is nearing 40 years of age and is in need of repairs and a good maintenance program. It will need more money than the City can put into it.

This has been a difficult decision. I have met with the management of the YMCA in regards to this issue. We have offered to return the pool back to them. They cannot afford the extra financial burden either; so the decision had to be made. I know that there will be those who will be disappointed and disagree with the decision, but please understand the reason why I had to make the decision that was made.

All of our departments work hard for the citizens of Peru. They look for new and innovative ways to reduce cost which in turn reduces property taxes. As we begin 2009, we will continue our efforts to reduce costs.

You might ask what we are doing to control property tax spending. I think it is important to note that we didn't just start our spending cuts this past year when the issue became a hot topic; we began four years ago. Some of the spending adjustments we made included:

1. Changing from a fully-funded, self insured health care policy for all employees to a Health Savings Account ( HSA ). Under the Health Savings Account, a single employee is responsible for the first $2,650.00 of their health care costs and an employee with family benefits is responsible for the first $5,250.00. This new health insurance plan reduced our budget by around $400,000.00.

2. We have eight less employees at this time.

3. We have created a new Ordinance Violations Bureau to help reduce operating costs of the Peru Police Department.

4. We established a new Fire Territory to help the Fire Department budget and to provide professional service to that territory.

Even small things have cut costs. We eliminated the Mayor’s vehicle in 2004, we shovel our own City Hall sidewalks, take care of our own landscaping needs and we have reduced janitorial services. All of these items used to be a cost burden to the city. We have saved over $10,000 a year on the budget by trimming out these small items.

Consequently, all of these items total approximately $635,000.00 in savings. (Health insurance = $400,000.00, employee reductions= $205,000.00, small items= $10,000.00, increase on ROI= $20,000.00)

As you can see, we have consistently been doing our part to reduce the budget and will continue to provide the services you deserve at an affordable price.

Today, we are witnessing a global economy that has caused an unraveling in many businesses, industries and families across America and Peru has felt the pain as well. We have seen the loss of jobs, but the City and County officials, along with the Miami County Economic Development Authority officials stand ready to assist jobless people in any way possible to help them through their difficult time. We have agencies that are helping with food and clothing, we have citizens helping their neighbors and we have Ivy Tech Community College providing courses that will give new training to impacted employees. Training that will help them achieve new careers and new dreams. We have a caring community and for that we should be thankful.

We will survive this economic downturn and we will be stronger for it. We must all continue to work together and lend a helping hand to those who are struggling.

Adversity often brings out the true spirit and character within people and leads them to make the noblest of choices. May our spirit and character continue to guide us.

The frustration that surrounds this present situation should not be what guides us. In times like this we must lead with a calm demeanor. Thomas Jefferson once wrote "Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances."

Tonight I have shared with you what your local government is doing to ensure that we position ourselves for new opportunities. The job is not done; the Economic Development Strategy that we have adopted is our vision for the future and it is a great vision. Now, we must build the pathway that leads us to that vision and our future. We will experience some bumps along the way and we will need to make tough decisions. But, that is what leadership is all about. We will continue reducing cost while at the same time invest in our future. If we want to attract the jobs of tomorrow we must make the investment today. We owe it to ourselves, and to our youth who are depending on us, to lay the foundation on which they can build their lives.

Good night and may God bless you all.