The city of Blytheville is looking strong in the face of adversities, according to Mayor James Sanders, who said during his "state of the city" address that for the city to continue forward, community members and leaders alike must continue to foster unity, cooperation and a persevering spirit in order to spur growth and change.
During Tuesday night's Blytheville City Council meeting, Sanders issued the comments. The address, which is a reflection of how Sanders sees the city in its current state, highlighted the five focus areas he feels the city needs to put its efforts toward improving. Improvement in these five areas, according to Sanders, is what will set Blytheville on its way to a brighter, more prosperous, future.
The five key areas, as identified in the city's strategic plan -- something Sanders referred to as a "road map" for city improvements -- include the removal of dilapidated housing and buildings, improving high school graduation rates, supporting the growth of retail and restaurants, crime prevention and reduction and lastly, the cornerstone for the city's success, workforce development.
"The state of our city is -- is still good," Sanders said as he began his speech.
During his talk, Sanders highlighted a few of the city's accomplishments this past year, including being able to drop the city's sales tax rate to 1 percent, receiving nearly $400,000 in grant funding for various projects, purchasing much-needed equipment for the Public Works Department that will help the city save approximately $500,000 throughout the year, eliminating excessive sewer fees and spending more then $300,000 in the rehabilitation of Blytheville's sewer system.
The report wasn't all positive for Blytheville, as Sanders admitted the city still has a lot of work to do when it comes to crime reduction and prevention and strengthening the local economy, particularly through business recruitment and finding ways to increase city revenues without putting a heavy burden on the people in the community and still delivering quality services to citizens.
"This city has been blessed over the past four years because we've been able to -- still, even though going through all the trials that we've had to undertake, we've still been able to provide a quality of service to our community, and as I stated before, to also reduce the tax burdens that were on our city," Sanders said.
Sanders also said with the recent crime streak bringing a more focused attention to the city's crime rates, he and the Police and Fire Committee will be working with the Blytheville Police Department on ways to strengthen community relations within the department.
"How do we bring our city Police Department and our community together to work together to eliminate or to reduce the onset of crime?" he said. "It's easy to stand back and look at things and make comments about how crime has increased, but at the same time, when we deal here with all five of these issues...we have to find ways of rebuilding those areas that have been underserved where our crime is more magnified in those areas, and I believe we'll see a reduction in our crime."
Ultimately, Sanders said the city has been, and needs to continue to, commit time and effort to strengthening the local workforce -- to recruit businesses whether they bring in hundreds of jobs or just a few jobs.
"Those jobs, even though they might be small -- they might not be hundreds of jobs -- even those small jobs allow opportunities to those people who can't or haven't had jobs," Sanders said, "It produces an opportunity for people to have a job and to work rather than being idle and being sitting on the streets and not contributing to our community."
In other business Tuesday, the council approved four of the five resolutions initially listed on Tuesday's agenda. Council member Tommy Abbott pointed out that the resolution to amend the 2015 budget had not gone before the Finance Committee. That resolution was not voted on, and will go before the Finance Committee during its March meeting.
The council passed the following resolutions:
-- A resolution allowing the mayor to enter into agreement with the state Department of Finance and Administration on behalf of the city to pay back the $1,058,570.98 principal amount over 30-months for unpaid excise tax fees.
-- Two resolutions authorizing payment to the Blytheville Airport Commission for hangar and terminal projects stemming from funds awarded from two separate grants.
-- A resolution condemning the following properties: 1705 Ash St., owner of record Kimberly Dubose and Ricky Hill, PO Box 1533, Blytheville; 1017 Ash, owner of record Michael Davis of San Bernadino, California; 1005 Ash, owner of record Fireplace Fellowship of Gallatin, Tennessee; 1709 Brawley, owner of record James and Betty Dixon, 1709 Brawley; 130 Dougan, owner of record Larry D. Reddick, 3379 E. County Road 346, Blytheville; 100 Rose, owner of record Alvin Jamison, 3301 Wynne Drive, Little Rock; and 105 Roosevelt St., owner of record Treather Smith, 811 S. First St., Blytheville.
The following resolution will go before the Finance Committee in March:
-- A resolution to amend the 2015 budget to show an increase in general fund revenues by $200,000 and increases in Fire Department ($80,000) and Police Department ($120,000) expenses. Another proposed amendment is a $300,000 increase in Street Department revenues as well as a $250,000 increase for equipment purchases and $50,000 hike in maintenance and repair expenses in the department.
cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com