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Mayor Marsh gives annual State of the City Address
Greensburg, IN - Greensburg Mayor Joshua Marsh has released the 2024 State of the City Address. The following is a transcript of his video address.
Hello, I am Greensburg Mayor Joshua Marsh. I am honored to share my fifth State of the City with you today from the mayor's office here in City Hall. I am pleased to continue serving our community alongside our teammates for my second term. Being a part of the team that delivers the best services, safety, products, and responses possible is something I look forward to every day when I walk into this office.
Clerk-Treasurer Amy Borns and I are humbled to have been trusted with another term to continue building on the momentum we have created over the last few years. Our partnership is stronger than ever, working together to improve our finances, access to programs and services for our teammates, and ensuring the City of Greensburg meets local, state, and federal requirements.
Our team has worked tirelessly over the last year to serve our residents and visitors. In 2023, we have met many milestones and accomplishments. I am excited to stand before you today to share just a few of our city's many accomplishments over the last year.
Clerk-Treasurer Borns, the City Council, The Board of Works, our administration, and all our team members have all worked together, allowing me to proudly and confidently state that the financial position and the state of our city is strong. We are ready to go for 2024 and beyond!
Under the leadership of City Clerk-Treasurer Borns, we continue to be good stewards of funds, exceed projections, and work with our financial advisors to ensure long-term fiscal health. In collaboration with the Clerk's Office, we continue to work on modernizing human resource functions, billings, and claims processing. Amy and her team have worked continuously to ensure the financial success of the City of Greensburg. With strong finances since 2020 and well-planned investments, all our departments can focus on providing our residents with the best services possible. And we can continue to pursue investments in all areas to improve our community.
This year, let's start with just a few of the achievements and milestones of our utilities division. These vital areas and processes are often overlooked and forgotten. These teams are on call 24/7/365 to respond to issues, leaks, and mechanical malfunctions. They ensure that we have safe drinking water and meet strict regulations for our discharge.
Our Utilities- the Wastewater Plant, Water Treatment Plant, and Utility Office, have had a big year. The Wastewater Plant successfully submitted all their state and federal regulatory reporting. It continues to make necessary sewer upgrades under our streets and upgrades to the equipment needed to treat our wastewater. The Davidson Street lift station received upgrades, along with a few others. In 2023, the wastewater plant saw nearly 1.2 billion gallons of wastewater through the plant for treatment.
Our wastewater plant's accomplishment in 2023 was the addition of MS4, stormwater programming- a new program through the State of Indiana to meet new standards to keep our community clean. Our stormwater department launched four major stormwater repair projects, three of which have been completed, and the fourth is in design. These have repaired failed infrastructure and brought relief to areas prone to flooding.
The Water Treatment Plant has pumped more than 823,000,000 gallons of water. With the much-improved capacity, our water treatment plant staff has worked to treat and provide water to our residents more efficiently. Our staff has repaired 22 water main breaks, installed and repaired services, replaced hydrants, and has located close to 2,500 utility services in Greensburg for residents and businesses. In addition, they also completed a city-wide lead and copper service line inventory ahead of the federally mandated timeline. The powder-activated carbon room is up and running in the new plant, reducing past taste and odor issues.
In coordination with the Wastewater and Water Treatment Plants, the Utility Office processed thousands of service orders and payments, sold millions of gallons of water to industry, and improved our new billing software. As a reminder, our improved software makes paying your utility bill online or through auto-pay even easier. It allows you to sign up for text reminders. You can also review your water usage in almost real time through your account. The Utilities Office also implemented new accounts payable and timekeeping software, bringing our entire City processing systems up to date. Our meter reading infrastructure has been updated immensely, a massive undertaking for the office.
Our City Engineer also had a busy 2023, issuing street cut permits, reviewing contract documents, both internal and external, and developing plans for upcoming infrastructure and road projects. The Citizen Reporter, an online tool hosted through the City Engineer's Office and GIS, launched in the fall. This new tool allows residents to file complaints and report issues regarding street conditions, blighted properties, abandoned vehicles, and more. As we get closer to the spring, we expect to see more information available. Still, the Citizen Reporter is already available on the city's website. I highly encourage all residents to use this new resource!
The City Engineer's Office also announced a significant change: Our city engineer, Ron May, has retired. Ron worked on many monumental projects for the City of Greensburg. He was instrumental in creating our new design standards, the Comprehensive Plan, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, and the Unified Development Ordinance. He was a great team member, and I wish him well in his retirement!
With Ron's retirement, we announced at the end of 2023 that we would welcome our new Director of Public Projects, Zach Wirrig, to the team. Zach is a Decatur County native, a graduate of South Decatur, and a Greensburg Resident. We're excited to welcome Zach and his family to our team!
The Engineering Office worked with the Building Office to launch two new programs for residents to improve their properties: the shared-cost sidewalk and curb improvement programs. These two new reimbursement programs are available to homeowners to make permanent curb appeal upgrades and rebuild or improve sidewalks across the city. More information and applications are available on our website.
A significant accomplishment spearheaded by the Building and Planning Office in 2023 was the completion of the Unified Development Ordinance. A UDO brings all the existing development, planning, and zoning ordinances into one updated, detailed ordinance. The UDO makes it easier for developers and builders to do business in Greensburg and helps us expand our housing and business markets. This completes a four-year, three-phase approach to overhaul our comprehensive plan, development ordinances, and design standards. Additionally, the Building Office issued 189 building permits for homes, projects, and business structures around the city.
The Code Enforcement division sent 395 violation letters to homeowners and business owners regarding grass, trash, and junk vehicles and code infractions on their properties. The Building Office, working in tandem with the Street Department, continues to work with our neighbors to enhance our neighborhood's appearance, health, and safety.
In 2023, the Street Department oversaw the micro surfacing and repaving of 5.2 lane miles of city streets and three residential neighborhoods, including curb ramps, to make our sidewalks more accessible. Road projects such as this are made possible due to the successful application and receipt of Community Crossing Match Grant funds. In late 2023, the City of Greensburg was also awarded nearly $318,000 for the reconstruction of North Franklin on the square's east side. This reconstruction project will rebuild the city street, improve drainage, add better traffic control, and improve pedestrian safety. We hope to see this project begin in the spring but keep an eye out for more information. We also were awarded funding for Phase 3 of Park Road Reconstruction, a project our team has worked on since my first term in office.
Sanitation collected just short of 7,000 Cubic yards of trash in 2023, which weighed over 6.7 million pounds. Heavy trash pick-up was successful, and our staff picked up 1540 cubic yards of oversized items—for comparison, that's what our staff collects in three months during regular trash pick-up.
In lockstep with the Fire Department, the Street and Sanitation Department is also coming close to seeing a finished facility on North Broadway near the bypass. The construction of a new building ensures the health and safety of our staff, keeps expensive equipment and materials covered during the rain and snow, and allows for space for staff to work inside. For the first time, we are giving our teammates a place with appropriate restrooms, lunch facilities, and space to thrive as a team.
Greensburg's new fire station one and headquarters have the safety features, space, training room, and more for a growing fire department. It has a separate living space from the apparatus bay to help prevent toxins from spreading to the living areas, space for men and women firefighters, a dedicated physical fitness area, and space for department training.
Both buildings will improve the quality of work life and will be part of our recruitment and retention strategy.
The City Council, Board of Works, and our teams have been unanimously supportive of this growth. I am excited to see this project come to life and see the teams move in, and I hope you will join us for the open houses this year!
Greensburg Fire Department has logged thousands of hours of training in leadership, physical readiness, mental health issues, and much more. In addition to adding a more robust emergency drone response team, GFD has also participated in community engagements, responded to calls every day, and worked to improve the care, response, and communications from the department. The department has been working with the builder of the aerial apparatus purchased in 2023 and being delivered in 2025. Our community has supported GFD with equipment improvements, facility upgrades, and opportunities to learn new skills.
The Greensburg Police Department answered almost 15,000 calls for service. Still, we continue to see a decrease in crime- a trend we have continued to see over the last few years. This crime reduction and increased presence are part of Chief McNealy and I's commitment to an engaged, active, funded, and present police force. Our force continues working with other agencies, prosecutors, and the community, all contributing to crime reduction. Our officers with GPD patrolled over 250,000 miles in 2023 and have logged more than 2,000 citizen engagements through our community events. GPD continues to be a leader in the law enforcement field by hosting and bringing nationally rated programming for law enforcement to Greensburg, bringing agencies from across the region and state together right here in Greensburg. In addition to investing in officers, we are improving equipment, adding tools to their belts, and making a $750,000 investment in their station to enhance air quality. A light refresh of some paint and electrical work will welcome them back to the station on South Broadway before spring break! Our administration stands behind and supports all of our teams. All of our department heads lead the way locally and regionally.
If you don't believe me, I invite you to our Public Safety Community Cookouts. You will see members from our teams and administrators, and it's an excellent opportunity to reconnect with your neighbors. If you have yet to go to one over the last four years, please watch for our postcard with the dates and locations coming this spring.
Though not a 2023 event, the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse has consumed a lot of time and planning power by our teams. This event will place Greensburg on the path of totality. We will experience over three and a half minutes of total solar eclipse. Indiana State officials tell us to expect 5,000 to 20,000 visitors in Decatur County on Monday, April 8. You can see what a great event lineup, including bands, food trucks, and other family-friendly events that are planned by the city at Pirate Park on our website or Facebook page. This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event, and I hope you will join us for two days of celebration.
Outside our organization teams, we continue to help lead the way in rural Indiana. Our Regional Economic Acceleration Development Initiative, READI, received $20,000,000. This was the highest amount per capita in the state of Indiana. We are proud to have six additional partners: Decatur County, Shelby County, Rush County, and the Cities of Rushville, Batesville, and Shelbyville. The seven of us continue to work towards an award for READI 2.0 that will only continue our aggressive path towards community improvements and investments, ensuring we can welcome new neighbors to Greensburg. This regional approach is here to stay, and we should embrace it fully. I remain committed to actively partner in local, regional, statewide, and even international relations.
In 2023, our community welcomed the newest Indonesian Consul General downtown. We welcomed her to the Midwest as a part of her assignment to the Chicago Indonesian Office. Decatur County, our entrepreneurs, and agricultural leaders continue to develop a relationship that benefits the local farm community and the economy of Indonesia. They are doing it too! Investments are being made domestically to support the export of Decatur County soy, and I am excited to have been at the table four years ago when we welcomed the then-Indonesian Consulate General for the first conversation. The team leading the charge is making a difference in feeding the world.
Another international relationship we continue to build is with our most significant foreign direct investment base, Japan. As you all know, we have several Japanese-owned companies where thousands of our neighbors work. They have long supported our communities and continue to make investments in our city and county. In November, Economic Development Director Bryan Robbins and I made the community's first trip to Japan in more than a decade. We joined the South-Central Indiana delegation from Bartholomew, Jackson, and Jennings Counties. The mayors of Columbus and Seymour joined me to share our appreciation for the continued investments and talk about what we are doing to improve the quality of life, education, place, and other opportunities to attract the best workforce we can for them. This trip was a resounding success. We hosted a reception with dozens of companies in attendance, representing investments spanning decades. Bryan and I met with our company leadership teams to discuss future investments and what we are doing to address the housing shortage and other retention tools. This trip marks the restart of our relationship with Japanese leadership, putting us back on the radar as partners, like other communities that have visited every year for three decades or more.
I have been appointed to the Accelerate Indiana Municipalities Legislative Committee. I am working to ensure that Indiana's cities are heard when the Indiana General Assembly is developing legislation that influences our operations and planning or prevents us from making decisions at the local level that are best made right here. This committee comprises small and large city mayors who help shape the future of our communities in a different arena.
More locally, I have had the privilege to serve as the treasurer for Administrative Resources and Associates, our grant team that helps ensure our community complies with grants. This association helps develop our region uniquely from other regions across the state.
I have also had the pleasure to serve as Main Street Greensburg's President for the last two years. We continue to see this organization make our city's core even stronger. Our board and directors are leading the way for downtown development. If you want to join that rockstar team, please get in touch with Main Street to see how you can help as a volunteer, committee member, or board member.
All of those are well within the mayor's responsibilities; it's not just setting the vision for our teams or community. It is countless hours outside of the office that is added to make sure our community is at the table when decisions are made that affect us, or that would benefit us. That's the advocacy we need; we are, and I am proud of that.
Part of sitting at the table is seeing who else needs to be there. That is why I have said it before but continue to champion it: We must have youth at the table. They are our future, not just as residents but as doctors, mechanics, teachers, repair technicians, engineers, or entrepreneurs. We must keep them engaged and ensure Greensburg is the place they want to be when they choose anywhere in the world as their base.
We continue to see massive success with the Mayor's Youth Council, making it their own. Fundraising for projects they are passionate about, bringing new ideas to the project. You will be interested to hear that Futsal is being added to North Park as a part of their project that just started as a basketball court refinish. Futsal is a soccer-based game that is played on a basketball court-sized court. Something that wasn't on our radar, and with local partnership, this is another item we can say. Greensburg has that.
I am a firm believer in investing, and more will follow. In addition to the work completed by Decatur County Parks, the 2023 Mayor Intern chose City Park as the location for their community improvement project. Scotlynn thought outside of the box and wanted to bring improvements to update our amenities. Her improvements include new tables, ADA-accessible picnic seating, and a new and improved tournament-sized horseshoe area. The pieces will be installed this spring, so take a look!
When we take the time and invite youth to the table to have a conversation, we substantially increase the likelihood of continued involvement and investment in our community. I remain committed to welcoming them to the conversation and encouraging them to find roles that benefit our community. I call on other community organizations and leaders to do the same. We work daily to encourage individuals to move to Greensburg; I also work to encourage those already here to remain here or return after furthering their education or experience.
Another thing that has brought a lot of attention to our community, while not designed by youth, is the Building Bridges Inclusion Park- an inclusive playscape for people of all ages and abilities. This project was completed in record time, and we are excited to have another innovative amenity in our community. This project truly moves the needle on why someone may decide to move to Greensburg and Decatur County. These investments are worth every dollar.
Each year, I make a commitment to remain committed to helping our public safety teams connect with members of our community, improving our infrastructure, working to better the quality of life through community investments, and making sure that the work being done by all our departments is shared. I make that commitment once again because, with our team, the state of our city is strong! We must keep up the work, the pace, and progress. I am committed and fortunate to have had your faith and confidence through the last four years.
I look forward to a fantastic 2024.
I promise to continue to work harder than ever to improve the prospects for every person who calls Greensburg home. Together, we've accomplished a great deal.
But there is so much more work ahead, a lot.
We need to usher in changes to access housing, childcare, opportunities for education, and economic advancement while maintaining Greensburg's charm. We can. I am committed to working every day towards that goal. Please join me, embrace it, and welcome those you meet on the street.
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State of the City Video is available on Facebook, Vimeo, and
www.greensburg.in.gov.
Audio Only of the State of the City address is available here.
Click the video player above to watch the 2024 State of the City Address.
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