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Achievements - 2010 in review Now I want to recap some of the accomplishments that our City achieved in 2010 before I turn to the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead this year and beyond. This is a good place to give credit to City employees. I commend them for their faithfulness in carrying out their public service duties with integrity. Although our resources have shrunk, there is no less demand of work required to get the job done. Their production is unmatched. Marysville has an employee-to-citizen ratio of 5.6 employees per 1,000 citizens, attesting to the fact that Marysville government runs lean on staffing, and will continue to do so while still providing an exceptionally high value for our taxpayers. By comparison, it is not uncommon for like-sized cities in Washington State to maintain a level of between 8-14 full-time employees per 1,000 citizens, even those cities that choose to contract out certain services that Marysville provides as a full-service city, such as water, sewer and garbage utilities, for example, or law enforcement. Last fall, after reviewing and assessing the City’s financial health, we were met with some hard choices to make in order to close budget gaps. We took decisive action. From department to department, directors had already cut to the bone, and were being asked to cut even deeper, freeze unfilled positions, cut or eliminate programs, and find even more creative ways to operate efficiently. Even these efforts did not go far enough, and we needed to initiate employee layoffs. These were not easy decisions. We knew we were impacting the lives of people with children and mortgages, same as what has been happening in the private sector In January, we presented the City Council with a department-by-department rundown of reductions in staff and resources, and the changes in the way we do business moving forward Department Reforms Staff reductions occurred in Executive, Accounting/Finance, Human Resources, Community Development, Parks and Recreation, Golf, Streets and Municipal Court; 277 approved positions in 2010 were reduced to 249 in 2011. We eliminated passport processing services Revised computer replacement schedule to reduce replacement costs Our Police Department is instituting a redeployment plan that reallocates shifts, and adds an overlap shift to reduce overtime and other personnel costs by as much as $300,000. I’ll talk more about this at the end of the presentation. We will be transitioning the jail to a 90-day detention facility, with an estimated $100,000 increase in jail revenues The Court reduced its budget for Pro-Tem judge services; increased court fees for contract cities, U.S. Bankruptcy Court hearings and Alliance One collections facility use fee Highlighting our team approach, personnel will be loaned to the Parks Department to help with ---PAGE BREAK--- maintaining a level of standards acceptable to the City We are considering a cost-saving water service boundary change to consolidate Everett water pipeline sources and Stillaguamish River/deep well sources, reducing costs for wholesale water purchase from Everett The Waste Water Treatment Plant will reduce its maintenance and energy costs. The Engineering Division will initiate and complete more work in house, including Capital projects, Comprehensive Sewer Plan updates and monitoring permit requirements Back to achievements - 2010 in review Transportation Our transportation infrastructure faces funding challenges in the current economic climate, but we have been able to move ahead on key projects to ease congestion and improve driver and pedestrian safety. We opened Ingraham Boulevard, full extension of 88th Street NE from 67th Avenue to 74th Drive, creating a continuous east-west corridor between I-5 and SR 9, and providing service to the new Marysville Getchell High School. Our Street Crew installed a paved walkway along 83rd Avenue that improves pedestrian safety for students accessing the new high school from neighborhoods south of the campus. Thank you to the School District for splitting the cost with us on this important project. We completed the 47th Avenue NE improvement project funded through a state Safe Routes to School grant, adding curb, gutter, sidewalk improvements, road widening, signal improvements and bike lanes between Armar Road and Grove Street. In September, we launched our online Report a Pothole program. We filled more than 57 potholes around the City in 2010, with 30 of them reported after the Report a Pothole program started. We have been able to patch them usually within 48 hours. These numbers don’t count those potholes that Public Works staff find and fill on a daily basis. Police and Public Safety Public safety is a high priority, and a core function of government. Our Police are second to none, using integrated, innovative policing approaches that respond to community needs, while building partnerships with the public to solve problems together for a safer community. In 2010, in partnership with the Marysville School District, Marysville Police expanded the School Resource Officer (SRO) program to four secondary schools. SROs are having an impact on criminal activity in these schools. Incidents in the 2008-09 school year totaling 1,013 fell to 847 in 2009-10, a drop of 16.5%. The Marysville Volunteer Program (MVP) built up its ranks of volunteers tasked with various crime prevention efforts, and we expanded the Neighborhood Watch program. The pro-active N.I.T.E. team of specialized, swift-action officers completed its first full year on the job. The N.I.T.E. team served 67 search warrants in 2009 compared to 91 through 2010, or about 2 a week, which is impressive output for four officers considering all the paperwork required. Felony warrants and ---PAGE BREAK--- misdemeanor arrests exceeded 2009 volumes; and the number of guns recovered tripled from 5 to 16. The N.I.T.E. team also had success in taking drugs off Marysville streets and out of the hands of young people. While the volume of cocaine recovered is down in 2010 from 115 grams in 2009 to 22 grams in 2010, the N.I.T.E. team has seized large quantities of heroin – 1,516 grams this year current compared to 141.7 grams in 2009. True, it’s a disturbing trend that is hitting communities nationwide, but Police have done an outstanding job rooting out the sources of heroin in our area, and will continue to do so. Crime statistics that we are compiling show that overall instances of criminal activity decreased 7% within the old city limits between 2009 and 2010 Residential burglaries were down 18% Vehicle prowls dropped 21% Thefts decreased The City’s 2009 population was 37,530 at the time. When we factor in the Central Marysville Annexation in 2010 that added 20,400 new residents and increased our population to more than 58,000, these numbers increased, naturally. Adjusted for the entire city limits including the annexed area, we saw an overall rise in criminal activity of 20% between 2009 and 2010, while the population grew by 54%. Over the same period, residential burglaries rose 15%, vehicle prowls stayed below 2009 levels at 3.7%, while thefts increased by 15%. In 2010 throughout Marysville, there were 68 commercial burglaries reported, representing a 24% increase over the year prior. However, commercial burglaries have been dropping considerably since 2007 when 117 cases were reported. Again, the key point is that per capita crime is down. The hiring of 8 new officers (and 4 custody officers) in 2010 and a police redeployment plan I’ll reference later are designed to ensure consistent police coverage throughout our entire community. I want to take this opportunity to thank the men and women of the Marysville Police Department for their faithful and loyal devotion to duty, and putting their lives on the line each day to safeguard our lives, our property and our community. The Municipal Court added a second full-time judge to hear cases for Marysville, as well as contracted neighboring cities, Arlington and Lake Stevens. This is providing the benefit of reduced docket times. Total filings decreased 7% in 2010 to 10,263 compared to 11,024 in 2009. The City was awarded a grant in 2010 and are now implementing video hearings between the Court and Jail for custody calendars. Video arraignment enhances the safety of courtroom personnel, the public and transporting officers while reducing the cost of transportation. Our long-standing partnership with the Marysville Fire District since 1992 continues to provide vital fire suppression and emergency services. ---PAGE BREAK--- Fire Chief Greg Corn and his professional firefighting crews, EMTs and staff are always there for us with the best “first response” resources and emergency services to the Marysville-Tulalip area. Last November, we partnered with the Fire District when our City Building Division employees and Fire Personnel installed free smoke alarms as part of the annual Smoke Alarm Saturday. The team visited mobile home parks where particularly vulnerable citizens lived, installed the alarms, and provided them with fire prevention and safety information. We thank them for their courage and readiness to put their lives at risk when that alarm sounds. Parks and Recreation In 2010, Marysville was designated a Tree City USA community Thanks to the donation of 1.5 acres by locally-owned Belmark Homes, we opened Shasta Ridge Park last June in the new Shasta Ridge neighborhood in the southeast Marysville foothills. Park features include a playground, fitness station, picnic benches and a full-sized outdoor basketball court Our parks system added a 12-hole flying disc golf course at Strawberry Fields Athletic Complex, thanks to a determined Eagle Scout, Christian Hauer, whose project took flight last August Marysville was honored with an Association of Washington Cities Municipal Excellence Award for the Healthy Communities Project Healthy Communities Challenge Day last June was hugely successful. More than 3,000 people young and old walked or bicycled away with plenty of new information to help them reach their health, fitness and nutrition goals. Plans are underway for 2011 Challenge Day coming Saturday, June 4, but support from corporate and civic partners will be much-needed Community service and volunteerism are a huge part of a vibrant, healthy city and I am grateful to report that our Citizens have really stepped up to the plate in this area. Total volunteer hours contributed by residents through Serve Day and other park maintenance and program volunteer events totaled 1,245 hours in 2010. These hours are equivalent to $24,900 in added value to the City. The work you see in the photo here was a partnership of three groups – The LDS Church of Marysville, Rotary Club and Marysville Free Methodist Church. They added big improvements to Jennings Nature Park, and became the first recipients of my community Volunteer of the Month program. We established the Parks and Recreation Code to manage and address trespassing and loitering issues in our parks, and more clearly define rules and regulations relating to parks and recreation facilities and programs. As of last December, residents accessing Parks and Recreation Classes and activities are now able to register and pay online through the department’s new “ePlay” service. In the first month alone, ePlay had already registered 139 families for various recreational classes, generating more than $10,000 in revenue. To cite just one recent example, the Father Daughter Valentines Dance on Feb. 5 and Feb. 12 began registering on Jan. 10. To date, 414 tickets have been purchased online, and 406 tickets were bought dropping into the Parks Office. Community Development ---PAGE BREAK--- Building permits are typically a good barometer for future economic activity. We did see more permits pulled in 2010 than we have since after 2008 when the economy went into recession and the housing market collapsed. In 2010, 352 single-family residential permits were issued, more than doubling the 164 permit applications filed in 2009. The 2010 figures are on par with the peak year of 2007 when 361 permits were filed. The total for all building permits issued rose from 1,468 in 2009 to 2,172 last year, a gain of 48%. The increase in permit activity is mainly due to contractors purchasing available lots in subdivisions directly from banks at below-market prices due to foreclosures and the housing slump. Electrical permits activity has soared since Marysville’s Community Development Department began its own electrical permitting program that helps builders obtain the permits faster, as an alternative to the state Department of Labor and Industries program. In 2009, 879 electrical permits were processed and 2,305 inspections conducted. By comparison, in 2010, 1,288 electrical permits were issued and 3,341 inspections performed. Mayor’s Initiatives Next I want to highlight two important initiatives that go to the root of what defines a true community – the individuals who build a greater sense of community, and the groups who unite its people. I initiated a Volunteer of the Month Program to recognize hard-working volunteers in our community. Given Kutz, a “SOUPer Senior” who helps kids to reader at Liberty Elementary School, was our recipient for December 2010. And I established a Diversity Advisory Committee. I believe now is the time to identify and prioritize issues concerning diversity and inclusion in our growing city. Marysville has much to gain by becoming a more diverse, inclusive and prosperous community that values diversity. I want to thank Marvetta Toler, Wendy Messarina-Volosin and so many others whose input led to the successful launch of this initiative.