FARMINGTON -- Mayor Ernie Penn gave the annual State of the City address Monday night, describing a successful year that resulted in increasing revenue, commercial and residential growth, increased library participation and steady progress from the public works, police and fire departments.
For 2016, the city will continue its commitment to improving communication and encouraging economic growth, Penn said during Monday's City Council meeting.
"The lifeline of our city is to continue to see growth in the residential and commercial sectors," Penn said. "We must strive to improve all of our process and to encourage growth within our city."
He said the city would continue to work with the school district, Farmington Area Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations to "improve our city and offer the services that our citizens desire and need."
He encouraged citizens to become more involved in the community, be better informed and to volunteer.
For most of the speech, though, Penn recapped 2015 in review.
He noted the city has $2.77 million in its general reserve account after adding almost $374,000 at the end of December, due to increased revenue over expenses during the year. For 2016, the city plans to use some of this reserve fund for major capital improvement projects.
"Our goal is to continue to budget conservatively with our income projections and to control expenses each fiscal year," Penn said.
Revenue from the city's 1-cent local sales tax and its share of the county sales tax was up by almost $163,000, compared to 2014. The city also collects a 1-cent sales tax for a sewer debt and this debt was reduced by $470,000 in 2015.
The city's local sales tax was reduced from 3 percent to 2 percent at the beginning of 2015 after the city retired its bond debt for the201Farmington Sports Complex.
Penn listed work completed by the Public Works Department in 2015. The city completed major overlay projects on Wofdale, Wesley Stevens and Archie Watkins roads.
A master plan was completed to provide future ideas for 32 acres of Creekside Park along Broyles Avenue. This plan includes a new public works facility and recommendations for basketball and tennis courts, walking trails and a disc golf course.
Projects for 2016 include additional overlay programs, sidewalks along Rheas Mill Road and the possibility of adding street lights and sidewalks in each ward of the city to improve safety.
The city's building inspection/code enforcement department issued 280 permits in 2015 and collected about $96,000 in building fees. The city gave out 48 permits for new houses with a valuation of almost $17 million. The city also issued 38 permits for residential remodels or additions for a value of $937,000, three new commercial building permits that valued $7 million (this includes the storage units on Broyles Avenue), and permits for eight commercial remodels or additions for a value of $250,000.
City Building Official Rick Bramall completed almost 1,200 building inspections in 2015. He issued 144 violation notices and reported a 95 percent compliance rate of those notices.
The city's Economic Development Committee continued to meet in 2015 and will continue to explore ways to bring more businesses to Farmington and enhance the businesses currently located in Farmington, Penn said. The committee is chaired by Alderwoman Diane Bryant and usually meets monthly at a local restaurant.
The city's Sports Complex completed its fourth season in 2015. Last year, 454 children and youth participated in the summer ball program. For the summer program, Farmington had 14 girls teams and 26 boys teams. The ballpark hosted six tournaments in 2015, with eight tournaments scheduled for 2016.
Farmington sponsors a fall ball league and for 2015, 31 teams participated in the fall program.
The city renovated the ball park's storage building in 2015, after the interior was destroyed by a fire. The new building is larger and has more storage area, restrooms and an office for the complex.
Farmington Public Library continues to see increased participation, Penn said, noting the city will soon have to start planning to expand the building to meet this increased use.
In 2015, the library had about 33,000 visitors and circulated more than 56,000 items, including books, videos, DVDs and other items. The library issued 435 new library cards.
Program and club participation increased 23 percent in 2015, compared to participation in 2014. According to the year-end library report, 2,150 people, including adults, children and youth, participated in programs at the library in 2015.
"There is no doubt that our city library is a shining star in our community," Penn said.
The city's Police Department did not have any employee turnover in 2015 and is adding a new position in 2016.
"Having a consistent and stable department is very important," Penn said. "With all of the new incidents throughout our nation, our department continues to stress the importance of technology to allow our officers to have the best equipment to protect our officers and our citizens."
The police department supports education and training for its officers and is active in training school personnel to deal with crisis situations. Penn said he has heard feedback from the school that the staff appreciates the training provided by police officers.
Farmington Fire Department responded to 936 calls in 2015, compared to 845 in 2014. Penn praised the department's response time and said this would be reduced again in 2016, with the addition of a new full-time firefighter. Full-time coverage will increase from eight hours each day to 12 hours per day with the new position.
"Our goal is to one day have 24-hour coverage with our fire department," Penn said.
In closing, he thanked the citizens of Farmington for their support of the city and thanked citizens for providing him the "honor" of serving as mayor.
General News on 02/10/2016