2009 STATE OF THE CITY
Mayor Carl A. Redus Jr.
Monday, January 26, 2009 – 10:30 a.m. – PB Convention Center
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On behalf of the Pine Bluff City Council of which I serve with:
Good Morning to the citizens of Pine Bluff, elected officials, partners, municipal employees and guests.
The last four years have been very busy for us. As a municipal government we undertook several projects that will align us to face squarely toward the future. Businesses are expanding their operations, new businesses have opened and new homes were built in areas that have not seen true investment for decades.
With your support, we have made city neighborhoods safer and cleaner; and we now have a City government that takes pride in its diversity, is impartial, more cost effective and operates efficiently.
We continue to map out a course for growth and revitalization that is working. I will admit that it often works slower than I would prefer, as most governments usually do, but it is working and with perseverance we know that we will accomplish our goals. The best way we can do that – accomplishing our goals – is by working together.
Our 44th President of the United States of America Barack Obama said, “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
It takes us working together to improve OUR city. Pine Bluff is not just my city or your city. This city belongs to EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US.
Today, our great city is a marvelous work-in-progress. I find Pine Bluff poised for true greatness, we’re removing the obstacles to our success, planning for the future, we all want for our families, and nothing can stop us, except our own failure to believe.
Pine Bluff’s 20/20 Visioning and Strategic Plan, was the brainchild of this administration with the support of the Jefferson County Alliance and nearly 1,000 Pine Bluffians. We have unprecedented support from the residents in developing plans for the future. After a number of Town Hall meetings led by professional consultants and goal team captains, we were able to put in place 12 goals that represent the priorities for improving the quality of life in Pine Bluff. Thanks to all of you who, participated and represented your neighborhoods, we completed the planning phase and have begun the implementation phase of our 20/20 Strategic Plan, and we are now acting upon the goals that were set.
I am confident we will work toward funding and completing the community center for our youth and senior citizens which will be built in a centralized location and accessible to all our neighborhoods.
Through the implementation of our 20/20 goals, we expect to create economic conditions and opportunities that will encourage our children to go to a technical or four-year college and remain at home or come back home to help make Pine Bluff better. We are very proud of the fact that we have two of the best higher education institutions right here in our community. We enjoy a great working relationship with both institutions because of our shared vision for this city, region and state.
Our municipal employees are working hard to bring you the municipal services you expect as citizens of this community. Their efforts are to be commended and I thank each municipal employee for their dedication and hard work to this community.
Attracting new businesses to our community and growing our existing businesses is vital to our stability and progress. We will continue to partner with organizations such as the Jefferson County Alliance, other state and federal agencies and the private sector to infuse our economy with more sustainable jobs. I can assure you we are constantly looking at every potential opportunity to provide jobs for our citizens. The successful effort in attracting the U.S. Sugar Co. Inc. and 100 jobs is indicative of that effort. This is progress.
Attracting new businesses to the area often means providing them with direct access to our City. The 48-year-old Grider Field Airport Terminal will be renovated with funds from an Arkansas Department of Aeronautics 80/20 grant. The City’s share of the $400,000 cost is $80,000. This will enhance our ability to attract more air traffic into our city in general. Each time a plane lands at Grider Field we have an opportunity to provide a revenue-generating service. An attractive, customer-friendly facility will certainly put us in a more competitive position.
The Obama administration has indicated that it will quickly be putting forth a stimulus package to help this nation’s ailing economy, and the City of Pine Bluff is ready to take advantage of what that might offer the working families in our region.
Pine Bluff has a list of over $90 million in “ready to go” projects that fit the stimulus criteria given for job creation and infrastructure improvement. We expect these projects, if funded, could create over 2,000 well-paying jobs by the end of next year, 2010. Jobs will be created through the construction of public facilities and improvements, water and sewer facilities, streets, and neighborhood centers; the conversion of school buildings for eligible purposes; activities relating to energy conservation and renewable energy resource; and assistance to profit-motivated businesses to carry out economic development and job creation/retention activities.
Public safety is our most important business and our police department works tirelessly to protect our citizens. Lines of communications were addressed in a number of ways by our Police Department in 2008.
They continued their conversion and implementation of the ADSi (Applications Data Systems, Inc.), computer network. This system is an extremely valuable communicative tool not only for the Police Department but for all entities cooperating with our Public Safety Departments. This system was purchased with the help of a Department of Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) that was awarded to our Police Department for the fourth consecutive year. A computerized testing system for entry level police applicants was developed in 2008 in order to maintain a ready pool of potential officers. Last year the Police Department hired 12 new officers and we are aggressively recruiting officers to continue the current downward spiral of crime in our city.
To increase the interaction with the citizens we serve, Chief John Howell implemented “Talk with the Chief, a series of meetings over breakfast designed to bring local clergy and other community leaders/residents together, to dialogue about the problems in their areas and the remedies they propose. These meeting have given the residents of our city an opportunity to express their expectations of the Police Department.
To better serve and repurpose our resources after the opening of the new jail, the number of officers required to transport prisoners was significantly reduced and instead these officers were made available for community patrolling.
Throughout the 20/20 process we heard from our citizens that there is a need to better protect our children and neighborhoods. In 2008, two (2) resource officers were returned to our schools and various gang, weapon and drug classes were conducted in the schools by these officers. In 2009’s budget, two (2) additional resource officers were approved.
The Police Department has taken an aggressive approach to obtaining grant funding for program implementation, training, equipment, computer systems and manpower, which has enabled them to carry out their responsibilities. The Police Department was awarded a U.S. House and Senate grant of $535,000 to upgrade and expand the City’s Emergency Response Communications Network.
The primary goal of the police department in 2009 is to combat crime to the extent that a measured reduction of 5 percent is realized. To facilitate this goal, the Vice Division will work hard to reduce the availability of illicit drugs and convict those responsible. We will continue to work with federal, state and county drug task forces in our concerted efforts to rid our city of crime.
We ended 2008 with 16 senseless homicides, down 3 from 2007; of these 15 have been solved and the suspects have either been indicted or are awaiting trial. We clearly have a lot of work to do in reducing homicides in our community.
I will propose an initiative to deal with the issue of: the rising murder rate among black youth. This initiative will include input from educators, parents, law enforcement, health care professionals, clergy, youth and other concerned citizens.
Programs such as the NET (Neighborhood Enforcement Team) Initiative will be implemented, along with other community-oriented policing programs, like the SAFE Team and Neighborhood Watch; will continue to contribute to the City of Pine Bluff’s crime reduction.
Another vital component of Public Safety is Pine Bluff Fire & Emergency Services. Pine Bluff Fire & Emergency Services takes very seriously its duty to save lives, prevent loss of property and protect the environment.
This year due to the efforts of the Fire & Emergency Services arson and vacant fires were reduced 26 percent. The Fire & Emergency Services has implemented new outreach programs and established new partnerships to reduce the losses of property and lives through fire prevention education and fire safety home inspections.
In 2008, Pine Bluff Fire & Emergency Services added the department’s first Public Information Officer, Safety Officer and Public Life Safety Education Officer. They developed the first fire safety education school program with the Pine Bluff School District, implemented the crowd control management team, the UAPB Fire Safety Orientation Program, and the Rapid Intervention Team.
Pine Bluff Fire & Emergency Services purchased a state-of-the-art Fire Quint Truck, which will allow them to better serve our citizens. This was the first ladder fire truck purchased in 20 years. To better educate our youth on fire safety and fire prevention, the Fire Department purchased a new fire safety house. The fire safety house is the product of a partnership between the Fire Department and Simmons First National Bank.
We will continue to encourage and pursue innovation and technology within our public safety departments, to ensure the prompt response to citizen requests and needs.
A less publicized component of Public Safety is our Animal Control Department. The enforcement of the Pit Bull ordinance by this department was quite effective in 2008. We have seen a continued reduction of complaints about pit bulls.
We have obtained additional funding from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to plan and develop multi-use trails around Lake Saracen. We are concerned about the well-being of our citizens and are promoting a healthier lifestyle for all of us. We have started on the first phase and we hope to have the trails completed by 2010.
The youth of this city are our future. We will continue to provide opportunities for them that will help them become productive citizens. Thanks to the support of the city council, especially Alderwoman Irene Holcomb, for reinstating the summer youth employment program in 2007. We initially hired 50 students in 2007; in 2008 we were able to hire 80 students and our goal for the summer of 2009 is 100+ jobs for our youth.
Deterring crime ensures that our neighborhoods are better places in which to live. In previous years, problem properties were destroying our city neighborhoods. Today, I am proud to point out that many of these cases have been successfully resolved; nuisance behavior is being addressed; and deteriorating housing and buildings are being brought up to code or eliminated. The Inspection and Zoning Department should be commended for their efforts and hard work. 136 condemned houses were demolished which not only distracted from neighborhoods, but were potential hot spots for crime; and 365 vehicles were removed from streets and properties. There is still a lot of work to be done but we are making progress and will continue to do so.
Our Transit Department has over the years provided transportation consistent with the requirements of the Federal Transportation Administration. Unfortunately, due to a fire earlier in the year, the Pine Bluff Transit office sustained substantial loss of building use and buses. Through the assistance of the Area Agency on Aging of Southeast Arkansas and other providers, Pine Bluff Transit was able to continue transit service with minimal interruption. The transit department purchased five used buses through a collaborative effort from Houston, Texas Metro officials and the Federal Transit Administration. In 2008, with the sharp increase in fuel prices, ridership increased approximately 25 percent.
Our Human Resources Department has put in place a number of new programs and initiatives for our city employees. The HR Department has established extensive training for supervisors and employees so that they may be more productive and proactive in there job duties. The HR Department has also implemented new employee orientation; extensive pre-employment testing for applicants and a training library so that our employees and department heads can stay abreast of current trends and changes. An up-to-date and revised new employee handbook will be put in place this year as well.
Finally, our financial state is sound. The City finished 2008 with revenues over expenses thus allowing us to increase the General Fund Balance by $844K to $2.6M. The surplus in the General Fund allowed the Administration to increase the Emergency Reserve by $500k as budgeted, resulting in a $1.75M Emergency Reserve.
In 2008 municipal salaries were raised to competitive levels with other comparable Arkansas cities, which resulted in our city employees getting there first salary increase in six years.
In 2009 the City Council passed a 3 percent cost of living increase for municipal employees. This is the second year in a row municipal employees have received a cost of living increase.
Payroll and Human Resource systems have been outsourced to ADP (Automatic Data Processing, Inc.), the largest provider of payroll services in the nation. City employees benefits tremendously from the integration of Human Resources and Payroll. ADP is a source of best practices in HR & Payroll administration and has disaster recovery capability in place to backup the city payroll process.
As an additional benefit to our employees, we also set up new ADP Flexible Spending plans for Healthcare and Childcare.
The finance department added an Internal Auditor position through restructuring the Finance Department to combine the functions of the Payroll Administrator with the Finance Secretary. This change was possible due to efficiency gains achieved through implementation of ADP payroll service.
Citizens, we have A LOT to be proud of and we cannot let up now. Our world is changing faster than we ever imagined possible. Pine Bluff is a city full of good people with good ideas. Our challenge – and it becomes more important each and every day – is to let those ideas flourish.
You should have high expectations from your city government, and we should all have high expectations of each other. We will be asking much of you this year. As partners, we can move forward with vision and action to show ourselves, our state, our nation and our world, that there is no end to what we can accomplish together in Pine Bluff.
I believe in OUR city and I believe in its future. Together, we will make Pine Bluff an even greater city, that you and the entire state will be proud of.
Thank you all for your services to our community and may God bless each of you, and our home – Pine Bluff. Grace be with you!
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