Mayor Murray presents 2013 State of City address

Editor's note: The following article is the annual State of the City address, as written by Greencastle Mayor Sue Murray, who has made it available exclusively to the Banner Graphic and the City of Greencastle website.

We are now a community of just over 10,000 people and we had a very good year. We finished 2012, as we have the last five years, within our budget and with money in the bank.

We have seen a numerous construction projects that have, at times, tried the patience of residents and visitors alike, but they have produced impressive results. We have seen remarkable economic growth and we are working on solutions for our community issues together.

We do, however, have to acknowledge the increasing financial pressures on local governments and programs and the challenge to provide the services our citizens expect. We could not and would not be successful at this if it weren't for the extraordinary dedication and determination of the people who work for the city. I am personally grateful to each of them.

I would like to share some of the significant accomplishments and events of 2012.

We saw the construction of a new Anderson Street entrance to DePauw University. Extensive renovations took place on the corner of Washington and Indiana streets, bringing us Eli's Books and a 75-seat Starbucks. These are the first of our Stellar projects to be completed.

Also under the Stellar umbrella:

-- 12 homes have been the beneficiaries of the Owner Occupied Rehabilitation program.

-- Extensive façade work is under way on 14 of our downtown buildings.

-- Preliminary engineering has been done on two of our streetscapes and we will be going to construction this year.

-- Design work is also completed on the 145-bay parking structure planned for the corner of Indiana and Walnut streets.

Work was completed on the rehabilitation of the Albin Pond Dam.

Crown Equipment Corp. completed the expansion of its building that doubled the size of their footprint.

Phoenix Closures rebuilt the old Oxford Automotive Building and is now producing plastic lids in its food-grade facility.

Charming Shoppes was sold to the Ascena Group that has decided to stay in Greencastle and launch its new e-commerce division here.

New equipment is planned for Chiyoda and Heartland and new contracts are coming for IAC and our two other auto parts suppliers.

The Emmert Group has begun construction on a new 92-unit, market rate, apartment complex.

Ivy Tech has opened its new Business and Entrepreneurial Services Center here at the Greencastle campus.

A & J Bowling is now refurbished and open for business.

Greencastle was awarded the Green City of the Year for the fifth year in a row by IACT (Indiana Association of Cities and Towns).

We invested almost $300,000 in our city streets, sidewalks and in making our crossings ADA compliant.

We worked with the county to rebuild the northern most portion of Edgewood Lake Road.

We were named a Tree City for the 14th year and for the third year received the Growth Award from the Department of Natural Resources.

As we work our way through 2013, we know we will continue to ask for patience from our citizens and visitors as construction continues in our downtown.

Our efforts to create the infrastructure to populate and care for this investment continue. We will also be seeing road and sidewalk projects in each of our four wards.

The financial challenges we face have not diminished and we remain acutely aware of the outside issues and events that can have a profound effect on how we do our jobs. We will continue to look for partnerships and opportunities for collaboration that will allow us to grow our human, social and physical capital.

Only by working together can we continue to be the Greencastle that we are proud to call home.