Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 129, Number 8, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 23 February 2006 — Page 20

Page 6

• Advance News • Thursday, February 23, 2006

Nappanee Mayor gives Iris State of the City

As we begin 2006, we welcome Mike Stull as our newest City Council person. We thank Jim Otis for his service to Nappanee. We will continue to look to Jim for his advice and leadership on issues regarding Meadows, and will continue to make improved quality of life decisions there whenever possible. We thank them both for their mam years of service to Nappanee. We welcome Mick Reese and Steve Hoffer as our newest emplovees. "People decisions are the ultimate - perhaps the only - control of an organization. People determine the performance capacity of an organization. No organization can do better than the people it has ... if mi want people to perform in an organization, you have to use their strengths - not emphasize their weaknesses . . . The purpose of a team is to make the strengths of each person effective, and his or her weaknesses irrelevant." Peter F. Druker 201)6 will see us implement a new strategy with regards to our Departmental leadership. Don Lehman will continue to lead our Code Enforcement, Zoning/and now begins the process of creating our storm water control "\ stem. Gale Gerber will oversee our Water and Waste Water Treatment Plant. Gale's biggest challenge will be to implement our long term control plan with regards to our combined sewers - a mandate by IDEM (Indiana Department of Environmental Managenvi,.). Wavne Scheumann will oversee both the I rk and Street Departments. )ne of Wayne's biggest chall ges will be the Downtown , lancement Pro-ject set to begin in 2(X)6 and completion in 2007. All job descriptions have been changed to allow more sharing of our workforce. Foremen Kim Nine (streets), Dave Jensen (water) and Mick Reese (waste water) will work closelv together to allow this sharing of manpower and equipment

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to work well for us. I \ ould like to discuss and share some ideas, projects and goals for 2006 and beyond. To do so, I will start downtown, and work my way out. Major barriers to successful Planning are fear of change, Ignorance of the plan, uncertainty About the future ; and lack of Imagination. The Downtown Enhancement Project will begin in late spring of this year. Phase I will include new sidewalks and historic street lights on North and South Main streets. With Main Street Suites and the Nappanee Public Lib-rarv on the north end, and the Depot Plaza on the south end, this inner city Main Street will be completed. The creation of the Downtown Building Improve-ment District (BID) will play a major role in our future downtown improvements. The vision of our Redevelopment Commission to establish this district is to be commended. Under the direction of chairman Rick Jenkins, we look forward to working with the committee for the betterment of downtown. In 2007, Market Street and downtown parking lots will be completed. New downtown signage is also being worked on as part of this project. Other downtown signage will also be studied in 2006. The continued support of our Apple Festival is very important to us, and all of Nappanee, especially for our downtown area. We applaud the Chamber's leadership and the Festival committee's efforts to maintain, and grow, this event. It's difficult balancing optimism and Realism, intuition and planning, Faith and fact. But that is what it Takes to build on our festivals for Our future.

Maxor Larry Thompson

We must support Amish Acres' Art Festival and other Fall Festivals as well. We must be more aware of the impact of tourism on everyday lives and embrace it. The proposed Heritage Center for downtown could be home for our Chamber and Tourist Information Center. Under the direction of the Nappanee Public Library this collection of our past could be tl • key to our future. We look forward to Linda Yoder's continued leadership at both our library and the future Heritage Center. Coppes and Amoco properties continue to be discussed as to how they will be incorporated into our future. We will continue to pursue all options on East Lincoln Street as it leads to the Coppes Property. We need to work with the United Methodist Church to enhance this area on our downtown's east side. Some of the ideas have been in development of a park-type setting to compliment the church's complex. South Side On the south side, we recently completed the Indiana Avenue project. This was out third neighborhood preservation project. The Orchard housing project will see its first homes built in 2006. The partnerships with Scott and Jefferson Townships will see fire trucks housed on the south side of the railroad tracks for the first time. A new neighborhood park will be developed in the southeast neighborhood area thanks to the generosity of the Harlan Beer fam-

Progress

ily. Plans for our extension of a pedestrian pathway along South Main Street with historic lights is also being discussed. The Other Sides On the north side, we will support the expansion of Woodview Elementary School. We hope to partner with the schools and the state highway to finally solve our drainage problems at the intersection of Woodview and North Main Street. Professional development will begin north of Nappanee Ford. We will look to our Plan Commission and Board of Zoning to make sure developers and land owners develop this area in the best way possible. The extension of the Pedestrian Pathway from North Main Street to CR 3 should also be finalized this year. On the west side, we continue to see growth of our industrial areas. Amish Acres, McCormick Motors, Borkholder Dutch Village, Nappanee Window, Newmar and others continue to lead the way. The city must continue its plans to improve services in the older industrial areas on the west side. Housing starts continue on the northwest side along the Berlin Court Waterway. On the east side, we will also be supportive of improvements at Nappanee Elementary. We applaud and wish Principal Genie Tobias best wishes in her retirement. We will see the Park Board work with the Morning Kiwanis to develop a new soccer site for this tremendous program for our youth. Further industrial development with Fairmont leading the way is also anticipated on the east side. 2006 may see some major retail expansion on East Market Street as well. If properly planned, these improvements and expansions will be vital to our future growth. With retail, housing, industrial, and park growth on the east side, plans to rebuild Oakland Avenue from East Market Street to Woodview Drive will also be explored. The city has received a

federal grant to fund tJiis enhancement project. In 2006, the Aviation Board will move forward with its improvement plans. The Aviation Board has worked very hard to update facilities. The additional property and runway improvements are key to our airport's future. Long term discussions about County Road 17 extending to U.S. 6 could put our airport in a prime developmental area. The extension of city services - water and sewer - will be vital to this growth. And beyond 2005 saw our Sister City relationship with Napanee, Ontario grow. We plan to continue this Sister City partnership. Some of the interaction being considered is exchange of work force, emergency services, possible student exchange, and continuation of the Ryder Cup Golf Toum-ament as well as other Chamber of Commerce initiatives. Emergency 2006 will see the South Side Fire Station put into use. Under the direction of Chief Tom Anglin and his group of dedicated firemen, Nappanee continues to be served at the highest level. More mandated training and potential new equipment will keep our department busy in 2006. EMS Chief Jim Sumpter, with new Assistant Chief Steve Heckathom's support, will continue to lead out EMTs and Medics. A new response vehicle is budgeted for 2006. Police Chief Mike Anglin is preparing for an exciting 2006. We welcome Curtis Weldy as our newest officer, graduating from the Police Academy in November. New equipment, cars and the possible addition of a new officer is in the works for this year. Our continued support of Cops in School and the Drug Task Force will be very important to us, however we must continue to evaluate where we are going. If we need to make changes, we will. If our officers need additional training we must provide it. We must, and we will, provide the finest for our officers, and in return, we will demand the

utmost professional service. Our dispatch center remains the center of our emergency services. Under the direction of Tod Schmucker and his staff, our center is the unspoken hero of every emergency call. The 2006 political environment will be of great importance to us. Our Governor and other state leaders must work together to solve out many needs in Indiana. Governor Daniels was elected to lead us out of extremely difficult times and back to our days that Hoosiers can be proud of. "A leader is one who sees more Than others see, who sees Farther than others see, and Who sees before others do." Leroy Eims I am very proud to say "Hometown Matters," the cities and towns initiative to help solve our financial woes in Indiana is getting some attention by our Governor and other state leaders. Our very own state representative, Jackie Walorski, has already made an impact on Indiana politics. Our support, prayer and appreciation are with Jackie as the short legislative session begins. Well there you have it. The State of the City from Nappanee Downtown to Indianapolis. 2006 will be challenging. Planning is bringing the future Into the present Predetermine a Course of Action Lay out your goals Adjust your priorities Notify key personnel Allow time for acceptance Head into action Expect problems Always point to the successes j Daily review you r plan. |