From the Mayor

In this first letter of 2010, I want to reflect on 2009 and share some thoughts on the coming year and what I see ahead for our community. 

Throughout 2009, we continued to advance the priorities and initiatives identified through the Budgeting by Priorities (BP) public involvement process of 2008. 

The City’s rewriting of the zoning code is well underway with a target adoption date of December 2011.  Construction in downtown was busy throughout last summer and will pick up again this spring with several more capital improvement projects.  The location for the Downtown Central Park was approved by the City Council and staff is currently negotiating with land owners.  The vision of a downtown urban center is taking shape.

I’m proud to report that the Efficiency Challenge the City undertook in 2009 is proving successful.  I directed City staff to identify measures to realize $1.6 million in savings over the biennium (2009-2010).  Over $2.6 million in savings have been identified to date.  These permanent savings to our budget will not only assist us during this downturn, but serve to stimulate and encourage innovative thinking at all levels of the organization.

This year, we will soon begin the Budgeting by Priorities process for the 2011/2012 budget.  This process worked very well for our first time through in 2008.  We now can take what we learned and develop a budget that reflects your priorities within this difficult economic environment.  While this will be a challenging budget, our emphasis on these priorities will help focus our resources to deliver the services most important to the community.