State of the City Address
Thursday, January 31st, 2008Written by Kevin Cederstrom, New York Mills Herald
Published Thursday, January 31, 2008
Community growth and capital improvement projects highlighted Mayor Larry Hodgson’s State of the City address at last week’s Civic & Commerce Association annual meeting.
Hodgson opened the address by speaking about his first year as Mayor of New York Mills. “To say the least, it has been quite an experience,” he said. “There have been times when it has been very rewarding, there were times when it was exciting, there were times when it was disappointing, and for most of the time it has been very challenging.” Hodgson told the group he did not realize the commitment of time the position required, but after attending over 100 meetings this past year relating to the operation of the city that requirement “has now become a reality.”
Hodgson pointed out along with the time commitment was the requirement to learn a new government-based language. Having to know what Gap Financing, TIF Financing, PFA Loans, SCDP grant funds, and Crossover Funding were all about was easy compared to understanding the meaning of all the acronyms and abbreviations such as: AURI, COLA, GMHF, LCSC, MCFOA, MHFA, MPCA, OTWCAC, WWTF and WCI.
In this time of an economy reportedly facing recession and the housing market down with mortgage companies forecasting foreclosures, Hodgson does not believe that paints a complete picture in NY Mills. In each of the past five years NY Mills has seen new construction and renovation costs in the city exceeding $1 million per year. This past year (2007) the city received 24 requests for building permits, granted three variances and exceeded $800,000 in new construction/renovation costs. “Sure we didn’t hit the million dollar mark, but we still did pretty well during this so called depressed economic period,” Hodgson said.
Hodgson went on to recognize a number of “key and dedicated members of the city staff”, who retired the past year. “Our first loss was the retirement of Russ Jacobson from the Zoning Committee where he served for approximately 45 years. Then Gene Imsande chose to retire from the Economic Development Committee where he also served for 35 years. Next was Sandy Barthel who retired as Liquor Store manager at the end of the year with, again, 30-plus years of service, and finally Chief of Police Brian Nelson who chose to end his service duties after 10 years with New York Mills and continue on as Perham’s Chief of Police. These people will surely be missed and it is amazing that total years of community service by these four individuals exceeds 120 years. Now that is what I call dedication to community service.”
Hodgson asked what the future held for NY Mills, and reported the Country View Estates Phase II is 99.9 percent completed and opens up a new area for 18 additional homes. To assist in getting people interested in building a new home in Country View the city is creating the New York Mills Workforce Housing Partnership, which is seeking grant monies through various state agencies that would assist potential homeowners with items like gap financing, down payment assistance, homebuyer education and credit counseling.
Hodgson also stated the $4 million wastewater treatment facility upgrade is slated for final completion this spring. One of two retention ponds is online, with the second set for this spring. The ponds have a holding capacity of approximately 30 million gallons. Once the system is online for waste collection the MPCA will lift the moratorium on new home/business construction.
The next major project for the city will be painting the water tower at a cost of about $280,000. The project will be more than just repainting the tower. Removing the old paint, selecting color and logo, priming and painting, inspecting the interior and maintaining a necessary water supply during this process all play into the cost of this project. The water tower project is the beginning of a 5-year Capital Improvement Plan laid out for city improvements.
Hodgson informed the group, in addition to the tower there are plans for a new city well, and four street and infrastructure improvements showing a projected cost in excess of $5 million. Other projects Hodgson mentioned included renovation to both the Senior Citizens Center and Liquor Store. The city determined it was eligible for funding through the Small Cities Grant Program, which will pick up 75 percent of the cost of the renovation.
In closing, Hodgson said: “I hope that I have been able to enlighten you as to what has transpired during this past year and what are some of the future plans for the city of New York Mills. Our goal was and continues to be for growth and development of the city. Hopefully by working closely with your city council, I will be able to continue with that emphasis as our main objective.”