State of the City

Paulette Richardson and Greenfield Mayor Dick Pasco

 Greenfield Mayor Dick Pasco spoke to the Kiwanis about the current state of the city.  The mayor’s grandfather and father were charter members of the Greenfield Kiwanis Club.  Dick Pasco served in all the offices of the local club except that of Treasurer.   He was President of the local club twice.  In addition to the local Kiwanis, Dick served as Lt. Governor of the Rose Division and Governor of the Indiana District of Kiwanis.  Before becoming mayor, Dick served as a member of the Greenfield City Council for twenty years and served as a member of the Hancock County Council.

The largest city project in terms of financial cost and complexity is the Potts Ditch project.  The project is estimated to cost about $10 million.  The mayor is in hopes that the project will come in at less than that amount.  He noted that the project needs to be done now because of the deteriorating tunnel system.  This is an excellent time to do this project with bonds as the interest rates are at historic lows.  In addition other revenue will be used so that the project will not require the entire amount to be bonded.

The next priority for the city is street repair.   The mayor stated that state distributions will increase next year allowing more repair to be completed.  The mayor said traffic studies would be conducted to determine high traffic areas that should be priority.

The Downtown revitalization project is the third large project.  Consultants were hired and developed a master plan to aid in obtaining grant money for the revitalization.  The mayor hopes that apartments would entice new people to live downtown by the Pennsy Trail and then become a part of the community before they purchase a home.

The mayor said ongoing issues always include Public Safety, employee benefits and wages, and cost containment.