Tuesday evening was the council’s spring “Common Purpose” retreat. The Council reviewed our goals and objectives and revised our focus for 2008-9. Everyone agrees that economic development is the key to providing quality services while keeping taxes as low as possible. We are in the process of hiring an Economic Development Director who can help us market our city to businesses. These are tough economic times, and many businesses are closing all around us. At this time, we have a healthy industrial base in Columbus, and it is important to help each business continue to be successful and grow. Boyd Kraemer and I meet with our local industry leaders to understand their concerns and provide city services when we are able. It is helpful to build strong relationships between city government and our local industries.
Bonding for the capital improvement plan will happen later in May. The Capital improvement plan was presented to the council in January and discussed at several meetings. We have made a commitment to you the citizens to focus on improving the infrastructure of our city. I told you about the dam engineering, the library expansion study and the city hall roof project last week. There is also about $800,000 dedicated to street repairs. After many years of neglect, it is time to put in place a plan that will maintain and upgrade our streets. There are houses on Lewis Street that do not have city sewer, and we plan to extend the sewer line out Lewis Street. Williams Street has been promised an upgrade for years. Last year a number of streets were upgraded during the Main Street sewer project. We need to continue to maintain and improve our city infrastructure.
I’ve set up a Question and Answer blog on the Mayor’s Page of the City Website. You can find this at CityofColumbusWI.com. Please email me questions that you would like answered, and I’ll post them with my response. Have a great weekend!
Nancy Osterhaus – Mayor
NOsterhaus@columbuswi.us
920.623.4925
