Mayor Driskell Delivers State of the City Address

Here is the text from Mayor Gretchen Driskell's State of the address, which was delivered at Monday night's city council meeting.

Good evening. I am honored to have the opportunity to report on the state of our fair city. It is summertime, and opportunities abound in our community. Our businesses are growing, our neighborhoods are stable, and our staff and councilmembers are dedicated to maintaining our high quality of life. In other words, Saline is in a strong position for continued success.

The 16^th annual Celtic Festival just completed several very successful days of events. Hundreds of volunteers worked together to put on a festival that hosted guests from near and far. Millpond Park was converted into a celtic playland of music, games, food, merchants and crafters. Today it is once again a quiet oasis of open space.

Building a sense of community has been our city’s top priority for years. We believe it is what makes Saline such a successful city. The opportunity to participate and connect with your neighbors creates a community vested in its future.

There are many additional upcoming events where you can meet new neighbors and renew old acquaintances. Every Thursday night you can come to downtown Saline and attend our block party with music. On August 5th and 6th, Summerfest (salinesummerfest.org) will be providing entertainment, food, and games downtown. We call it Saline’s Family Reunion because so many community members participate. In September, our Harvest of the Arts/Oktoberfest will be held celebrating art and our German heritage.

Of course, all of these events could not be held without volunteer participation. I would recommend volunteering as a great way to give back to your community with an added benefit of making new friends. Our city commissions are also comprised of volunteers. We are always interested in adding new voices and ideas to our commission activities. Our city website cityofsaline.org has a page dedicated to volunteer opportunities for your perusal.

Another vital attribute and city priority is a vibrant downtown. Creating spaces that are attractive and bring people to our downtown is always a work in progress. This summer you can see new beautification efforts with our hanging planters and our Arts & Culture Committee is installing an art project that incorporates seating. Additionally, we are delighted to see 147 W Michigan Ave, formerly known as the big pit, cleaned up and back on the market. We hope to see a new project there that will add a greater dimension to the vibrancy of our downtown. As part of our recent land use plan update, we are in the process of developing an overlay district for our downtown that will give us additional options to enhance this unique area.

Our participation this last year as an associate in the Michigan Main Street program has been very beneficial. We believe that a true commitment to this nationally recognized program will give us many tools to become a stronger downtown and therefore a stronger community. To that end an organization separate from the city is being formed to apply for and receive the Select level status this year. Look for the information booth at the Farmers Market and other locations, with more activity coming in the fall.

Saline is in a stable financial position, assuming the economy recovers and the state does not continue to cut our revenues. Council and staff worked diligently this budget cycle to maintain our millage rate and our level of service for the next fiscal year. It is getting more difficult each year to find opportunities for saving without impacting our level of service. Every year we have implemented changes in our organization, ranging from staff reductions to benefit adjustments to deferring capital projects. All of our nonunion staff and Teamsters Local 214 employees have taken a wage freeze this year.  The Saline Sergeants Association and Saline Police Officers Association have also taken some wage concession.

We are considering consolidating dispatch services with another provider. We have been identifying any associated costs, savings, and analyzing potential challenges with this change.  We expect to come to a decision in the fall, with implementation in the next fiscal year, if we choose to move forward.

We are also in the process of developing the dashboard financials the Governor is asking communities to provide to their residents in exchange for receiving our statutory revenue sharing. In the meantime look at our website for an even more detailed report on our financials and our long range plans.

Road projects implemented this summer are located in the Rolling Meadows subdivision. We will be repaving and upgrading water/sewer lines along Tower, Wallace and Nichols. We have an asset management program that analyzes the deterioration of our roads and assists us with prioritizing road repair. We will be holding a special work session next council meeting to further our energy efficiency efforts and develop a more methodical approach to prioritizing projects.

Our local economy has stabilized and we are experiencing additional growth through business expansions. We are fortunate to have healthy businesses who contribute significantly to our community through employment and event sponsorships. Our percentage of nonresidential tax base of our total tax base is 44 percent. 

One of our top priorities is to continue to grow our business sector through economic gardening and attracting international businesses. We have been gathering information this past six months and our economic development board and city council, along with private sector input, will be advancing a coordinated economic development plan to be implemented over the next five years.

Saline is fortunate to have a strong set of assets to build on. The community, citizens and businesses, schools, and volunteer organizations, actively support our efforts to provide an excellent quality of life. We have a dedicated team of employees and councilmembers. I hope you have a chance to get out this summer and enjoy some of our activities and events, make some new friends, and get involved in your community. Thank you for supporting our efforts to make Saline a great place to be!