2014-02-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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greatly improve the quality of life for all our citizens. The children's indoor play pool will be a year round birthday favorite for the youngest of our citizens! Warm weather will see our young moms with little ones enjoying the zero entry pool while older kids will find the play structures and water slide fascinating! We older folks may have to settle for a laid back trip around the lazy river! The City of Batesville's Community Center and Aquatics Facility, along with the new soccer and ball park facilities, will substantially lift the bar in quality of life opportunities offered by cities, not only in Arkansas, but in our region. Today's millennial generation places a much greater value on the quality of life afforded to their families when deciding where to settle down than did past generations and often place greater importance on the value of community than on the job. These quality of life improvements will also enhance area employer's ability to attract and retain the best and brightest to continue growing their businesses as well as attracting new businesses to our community. I am confident that our city has made the correct decisions to ensure a prosperous economic future for this community by first improving our water, sewer and road infrastructure. Independence County's economy is based on the poultry industry. If our city had not made the difficult decisions to repair our water and wastewater infrastructure first, what company would have been willing to purchase the Townsend's Poultry Facility when it went bankrupt knowing they couldn't expand it?What company would have been willing to purchase the Pilgrim's Pride facility when closure had already been announced if they had not been able to expand the plant and grow their business? Because we put infrastructure improvements first, because we made the right decisions, our core industry now has a prosperous future. It is now time to refocus our efforts at growing existing businesses and attracting new industries to our community. Having funds to encourage existing businesses to hire additional workers and funds to entice new businesses to locate here is critical to the continued success of this community. I must admit I was disappointed by the recent county-wide vote to discontinue the quarter cent sales tax for economic development. I never will forget the time Governor Beebe remarked that communities who have "skin in the game" (economic development money)were the ones most likely to receive help from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. As the County Economic Development efforts wind down and as the remaining economic development monies are spent, the City of Batesville stands ready to work with all involved to explore another alternative in order to support of economic development in our community. In the next few months the city will see one of the most aggressive overlay projects that it has had in many years. There will be over a half million dollars spent comparable to approximately seventy five thousand dollars spent in previous years. This was made possible by the recent tax increases passed by the voters. There were also two additional firemen hired from the passing of the 2012 Community Development Initiative. I will continue leading this community with the goals of sustaining a safe and vibrant economic community for all citizens for decades to come. I feel extremely honored to continue my job as your mayor. My passion to improve this city is as strong today as it was when I was first elected. Before closing, I want to give my sincere, heartfelt thanks to all my employees who help this city run smoothly on a daily basis. My hope is that the City of Batesville will continue providing the community resources and leadership to enable all citizens to be proud of the place they call home. Thank you and God bless. MAYOR COMMENTS Mayor Elumbaugh said he would be out of town on the next scheduled council meeting. Councilmember Bryant moved to cancel the meeting scheduled for March 11th and only have one meeting on March 25th. Councilmember Matthews seconded and all voted for.