State of The City 2016 - FINAL

2016 State of the City Address
Mr. Chairman, members of City Council, this message and the accompanying budget are
submitted to you in accordance with Article 10, Section 10.2 of the Charter of the City of
Huntington, WV.
The fiscal strength of the municipal government of the City of Huntington is proving itself to be
resilient. Its resilience is credited to the unyielding commitment of the employees of the city in
each department to ensure an efficient, innovative and effective product is delivered to our
citizens.
In short, we have created a foundation on which to proceed. Our Police, Fire, and Public Works
departments are credited as being the most effective departments in the region. Certainly, each
could use an infusion of millions in additional funding to do more. If additional capital comes
available as a result of a growing economy, they each are positioned to intelligently invest that
capital in an efficient, innovative and effective manner.
The departmental budgets proposed are ostensibly flat.
There is a hole in the budget, however.
The hole is the insurance line.
Our insurance line makes up property and casualty, workers compensation and health care
benefits. Seven years ago, the public safety pensions were the greatest challenge to the ongoing
fiscal operations of the city. Insurance presents a greater challenge than pensions ever posed.
We were able to project what would happen if the Legislature didnt act on pensions. However,
the Legislature will not be able to help us fix this problem.
Today, our insurance costs are spiraling out of control. Because the city is self-insured and has
a small pool of employees, insurance costs are the only expenditure that we seemingly have no
solution to establish control. Our department heads know very clearly what their budgets are
and are held accountable to maintain their spending to that which is assigned to their area of
responsibility. However, while the city has implemented wellness programs and wellness
education; established a more vibrant and dynamic safety program; and rid ourselves of
properties that created unmanageable risk, the insurance costs are continuing to pose
significant problems.
Our projections indicate that our insurance costs could increase 40% in the next year.
The coming weeks will be important in determining how we address the ever-increasing
expenditures in this line. We will continue negotiations with our three bargaining units and, in
turn, solicit bids from prospective insurers.
We have built a strong partnership with our bargaining units. The bargaining units have a
vested interest in assisting us in controlling all of our insurance costs. They fully recognize that
the protection of their jobs necessitates that we find an economical solution.
A partnership works seamlessly in good times. The value of an effective partnership

demonstrates its worth in difficult times.
The stability of our Fire, Police and Public Works departments depend upon our ability to
identify an affordable solution to our insurance challenges.
Other than insurance, our departments are effectively addressing our community challenges.
Are all our issues resolved? Of course not. However, each of the departments, including
leadership and rank and file, are engaged in a long-term path to resolve complicated issues
with complex responses.
My Walks with the Mayor last year were eye-opening. Certainly, each neighborhood has its
own unique challenges. One point was crystal clear, though. Every neighborhood, regardless of
economic status, had crumbling sidewalks as well as vacant buildings and unkempt property.
Naturally, the problems were more pronounced in some areas than others. In every
neighborhood, the owner-occupied properties were nearly pristine.
This Council has already endorsed and authorized strategies to address each of these issues.
The bold step by this Council to create a fund for capital projects by increasing the user fee
enables us to fund with this budget a pilot project for neighborhood sidewalk replacement. As
we ask each Council member to provide a proposed list of streets to be paved, we are also
asking for a similar list of sidewalks to be repaired or replaced.
City Council recently adopted a vacant buildings ordinance that will enable us to create a
registry for vacant properties. The registry will enable us to quantify in greater detail the extent
that vacant buildings are contributing to the decline in property values in our neighborhoods.
Our Unsafe Buildings Commission has identified 250 structures that need to be demolished. I
am told that there could easily be an additional 500 buildings placed on that list.
An anonymous donor has generously given $100,000 to demolish buildings in the city. We will
match that donation with $100,000 from our capital budget. We have become known for our
aggressive programs to address the presence of substandard and dilapidated buildings such as
our Land Bank, our Unsafe Buildings Commission and our code enforcement efforts. Now that
we have the vacant buildings registry ordinance on the books, we must coordinate our efforts
toward a common goal to systematically begin demolishing dilapidated buildings in every
neighborhood. I have asked Tom Bell to lead this effort.
The problem of dilapidated buildings is at the top of the list of concerns in every city in West
Virginia and across the nation. The problem is not unique to Huntington. In fact, Huntington is
identified as a national leader in addressing the problem with innovative solutions. On Friday
of this week, the City of Huntington will serve as the host city for the West Virginia Housing
Development Funds new Property Rescue Initiative for communities throughout southern
West Virginia. In turn, I have been asked to be a guest presenter the past two years for the
West Virginia Bar Association to address community efforts to deal with dilapidated housing.
A common phrase that all politics is local rings true here. Our city is directly experiencing the
effects of policies set forth in Washington, D.C., and in Charleston.
To an undisciplined eye, it can be argued that we have virtually no control over our own
destiny.
International markets and national policies are directly impacting our economy. This is
certainly nothing new to our region. We can view our recent 30- to 40-year history and observe
how the long-vacated industries have left our neighborhoods empty and have caused
subsequent decline.
Our state is experiencing a downturn in revenues due to a changing international energy
market and a disruptive national energy policy.
Coal and natural gas prices are reaching historic lows, and federal policy seeking to encourage
the development of energy alternatives has been slow to recognize that energy dependent
regions have been left behind. The people living in these regions are left to suffer the
consequences.
In the meantime, our health care economy is in transition. Indeed, millions of people are at last
receiving health benefits. However, the resulting increase in insurance costs is leaving every
private and public enterprise in limbo as they attempt to balance their books and continue on a
level course toward prosperity.
While the issues we share with virtually every city in the state and nation are similar, we can
learn from our past.
The answers can be simple but, as we are also learning, are certainly not easy.
Our response has been consistent these past three years. We will not be defined by the
difficulties we face. We will define our challenges and, in that effort, discover our solutions.
We can learn from our past and create a pathway for others to follow.
We have been down this road before. Our history seems so distinct, so fresh, so final.
While we lack the ability to change the past, we absolutely can determine our future.
Our efforts are already beginning to sprout new seedlings.
The opiate epidemic that is so devastating to the fabric of our community -- our families, our
neighborhoods -- is being wrestled to the ground by several fronts. U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore
Capito said simply, yet strongly, that Huntingtons efforts to stem the drug epidemic should
serve as a model for other cities. The Mayors Office of Drug Control Policy has in less than a
year assisted in the delivery of more than $3 million of federal, state and private nonprofit
grants and in-kind assistance to various agencies in the area to assist in the fight of the opiate
epidemic.
Rather than be defined by this epidemic, our city has defined the problem and now has a
strategic means to conquer this enemy. In short, because of the Office of Drug Control Policy
led by former Police Chief Jim Johnson, Deputy Fire Chief Jan Rader and Huntington Police
Department Criminal Intelligence Analyst Scott Lemley, lives are being saved.
The City of Huntington has been named as one of 15 semifinalists in the Americas Best
Communities competition sponsored by Frontier Communications and others. Our proposed
community revitalization plan for this competition represents a comprehensive initiative that
will transform our city and region to a level of success not seen in the past 70 years. Our
success will enable cities and communities throughout the region to unfurl the bridle of limited
expectation and unleash the opportunity of anticipated prosperity.
By looking to our past in each of these instances, we have learned not to idly accept the results
that trickle down to us from national policies and international markets. Instead, we respond
aggressively and assertively and seek solutions that are unique to our community.
We respond by choosing to define our problem.
We define ourselves by doing.
We do by joining together in radical cooperation.
In radical cooperation, this Council and administration have stood together when others have
tried to shame us toward a fractured voice.
In radical cooperation, this City Council and administration responded to the calls for help
during the past three years. Often times, we responded to a drumbeat that others have not had
the temerity nor the spirit to respond.
In radical cooperation, this Council and administration had the courage to speak as one voice
on three separate occasions to proclaim that all people living in our city will live in an
environment of equal opportunity free from discrimination and hatred.
In radical cooperation, this Council and administration had the courage to speak in a single
voice to assure that labor and business can and should work hand in hand -- not as adversaries,
but as community members with a common goal of prosperity for all.
In radical cooperation, this Council and administration had the courage to act on numerous
occasions rather than waiting on Charleston or Washington to provide us declarations to our
problems. Instead, we will determine our own destiny and create resolutions to our challenges
with a chorus of voices that ring out in harmony.
In radical cooperation, this Council and administration have stood together.
And in radical cooperation, this community will be defined by acting, by defining our enemy
and by showing the world that we win when we stand together.

State of The City 2016 - FINAL

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

State of The City 2016 - FINAL

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

State of The City 2016 - FINAL

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2016 State of the City Address

A partnership works seamlessly in good times. The value of an effective partnership

You might also like