The city of Washington is in “excellent condition”. That was the message as Washington Mayor Joe Wellman reviewed the year 2017 and outlined planned projects for 2018 in his annual State of the City address Monday evening.
The mayor ran down several stats in his speech telling the Council and the audience that the Building Commissioner’s office issued 301 building permits in 2017 for construction projects estimated at $13.2 million. He also noted the city grew through the voluntary annexation of a new segment of the Deerfield Subdivision on the City’s southeast side. The Mayor mentioned the addition of a new industry, Eagle Railcar, to the city’s economic and employment base.
He commented that the Blight Elimination Project saw the razing of 11 abandoned houses, with three more to come down this spring. Eight of those 11 properties already have new houses on them, and houses are planned to be built on two of the other.
The Mayor also pointed to projects that have vexed the City for decades. He said after around thirty years and the administrations of at least four mayors, agreement was finally reached with CSX Railroad for a new 15th Street Bridge….
The Mayor also discussed continuing negotiations with the State of Indiana about the condition of old U.S. 50 through the City. The Mayor said he believes the City and the State are as close to a resolution of the problem as they have ever been. The City wants to pave the entire length of the road through the City and improve drainage and bury utilities along the road among other projects, if the state will agree to the City’s requests.
The Mayor also said that spring will see a major amount of paving projects underway as the City works to repair streets damaged by the harsh weather this winter.
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Hear or download the Mayor’s speech by clicking this link: