Mayor Zink presents State of the City 2010
Lead Summary
By
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The following is Mayor Dick Zink's State of the City for 2010.
The unencumbered balance in the General Fund was $ 429,030.09 at the end of 2010. This was down from the end of 2009. With the decrease in revenue, this balance was hard to achieve considering the present overall economical conditions and the unemployment percentage in Highland County. As I stated in the State of the City Report for year ending 2009, we would constantly monitor spending and reduce the same in order to end the year with an acceptable balance. This was achieved with the input and cooperation of the City Department Heads.
This past year saw the completion of the new Fire Station and the ground-breaking of the addition and upgrade to the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which was mandated by the EPA. The fire station architect estimate was $1,508,573 for the construction. The bid came in at $1,293,222, which was $215,351 less than the estimate.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant engineer’s estimate was $19,700,000. The actual contract was awarded for $13,788,000, which was $5,912,000 less. Additionally, Kirby Ellison, through her efforts in pursuing grant funding, received on the city’s behalf over $7,000,000 in grants. At the present time, the Wastewater Treatment upgrade is about 60 percent completed. The original estimate in the contract was 27 months; this would make the completion date about June of 2012. Providing the supplies make delivery dates, the completion could be as early as November 2011. We hold monthly construction meetings with the engineers, contractors, resident inspector, Wastewater Treatment Superintendent, electrical contractor, and City Administration.
The Water and Sewer Maintenance Department repaired 32 water main breaks during 2010. This amount was down from 57 breaks in 2009. These breaks included: 7 two-inch breaks, 9 four-inch breaks, 12 six-inch breaks, 1 eight-inch break, 2 ten-inch breaks, and 1 twelve-inch break. The department also repaired three service lines, installed one new service line, repaired twelve curb boxes, installed three new fire hydrants, and installed 2,000 linear feet of six-inch water main at the new Wastewater Treatment Plant. Additionally, the Hillsboro water distribution system was flushed for water quality for dead end mains at the end of each month. And on May 6 and Oct. 29, 2010, the entire system was flushed with the assistance from the Hillsboro Fire Department. The Meter Department spent 132 days reading meters, completed 1,004 work orders, installed or repaired 124 meters, and spent 43 days shutting off services for non-payment of bills.
The Street Department salted streets, plowed snow, replaced and straightened traffic and street signs. They also patched potholes, cleaned catch basins, changed bulbs in traffic lights, installed storm drains, repaired catch basins, picked up leaves, trimmed trees and maintained Liberty Park brush dump site.
The Water Treatment Plant pumped 270,839 million gallons of water. The average daily pumped was .742 million gallons per day. The reservoir levels as of Dec. 31, 2010 were approximately 105 million gallons at the Liberty Park location and 56 million gallons at the Selph Road reservoir. Based on the usage for the year 2010, the total water in both reservoirs is nearly a year’s supply.
As previously stated, the Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade is moving along ahead of schedule. The total flow treated was 453,987 million gallons for 2010. A daily average was 1,244 million gallons. If you do the math, it is clear that we are treating more gallons of water at the Wastewater Treatment Plant than is being treated at the Water Treatment Plant. The difference is largely due to the inflow and infiltration into the sewer lines, especially during rain events. These are caused by a lot of downspouts from residents as well as sump pumps dumping into the sanitary sewer lines. There will be some corrections made in this area in the coming months. The Hillsboro Fire and EMS Department answered a total of 2,739 calls during 2010. This averaged 7.5 calls per day. Of the total calls, there were 438 fire calls and 2,301 EMS calls. A breakdown follows:
FIRE CALLS: Brushcreek, 2; Brown County, 0; Clay Township, 1; City of Hillsboro, 167; City of Greenfield, 4; Concord, 4; Dodson, 4; Fairfield, 4; Hamer, 9; Village of Highland, 0; Jackson, 13; Leesburg, 2; Liberty, 88; Lynchburg, 0; Madison, 4; Marshall, 10; Mowrystown, 1; New Market, 25; New Vienna, 1; Paint, 64; Paint Twp. (Ross Co.), 5; Peebles, 0; Penn, 8; Salem, 0; Sinking Spring, 0; Union, 2; Unknown, 3; Washington, 14; Washington C.H., 0; Whiteoak, 3.
EMS CALLS: Brushcreek, 15; Brown County, 1; Clay Township, 3; City of Hillsboro, 1,257; City of Greenfield, 0; Concord, 17; Dodson, 8; Fairfield, 1; Hamer, 39; Village of Highland, 1; Jackson, 69; Leesburg, 4; Liberty, 252; Lynchburg, 10; Madison, 2; Marshall, 57; Mowrystown, 3; New Market, 98; New Vienna, 0; Paint, 363; Paint Twp. (Ross Co.), 3; Peebles, 1; Penn, 11; Salem, 4; Sinking Spring, 5; Union, 5; Unknown, 0; Washington, 60; Washington C.H., 1; Whiteoak, 11.
From Jan. 20, 2010 through Dec. 20, 2010, the EMS runs within the City of Hillsboro totaled 722, while the runs outside the City (in the townships totaled 870. Mileage inside the city totaled 2,055 miles. Outside the city, the total mileage was 5,816. Non-residents were billed $746,835.54. Of this amount, the collections were $273,617.56, which leaves a balance of $473,217.98 not collected.
The Hillsboro Police Department 2010 statistics are as follows:
Total calls, 13,891; Accidents handled, 449; 911 calls, 256; Fatal accidents, 1; Offenses investigated, 979; Bar calls, 20; K-9 report, 26; Traffic arrests, 537; Criminal arrests, 1,181; Parking tickets, 13; Home Security check, 6,536; Total miles driven, 110,461; Fuel used, 9,262.5 gal.; Reserve Officer hours, 728.5 hrs.; Maintenance costs, $14,899.85.
The average number of calls per day was 38. (13,891 calls ~ 365 days = 38 per day.)
The number of calls were down 1,017 from 2009. Accidents handled were down by 65.
There were 57 more offenses investigated in 2010. Bar calls were down by 10. Traffic arrests were down 49. Criminal arrests were up 174, as were Home Security Checks up by 2,816.
The Police Department has been two positions short since 2004 and another position was eliminated due to a demise of one officer in 2009, leaving the department at bare bones to carry out the duties of keeping the community safe. For approximately six months of the year 2010, the Police Department was again without two more of their officers due to their retirement from the force. This left the department five officers short. Coupled with vacation time, personal days, and sick time, the department still accomplished the lower statistics. I have asked City Council to replace the two officer positions that were vacated due to retirement in 2010; however, budget constraints presently have restricted this request.
We in Administration will continue to monitor overtime and spending during the upcoming year. The 2011 budget is very tight; however, I’ve been able to end each of the past seven years as Mayor with an acceptable unencumbered balance in the general fund.
This has been with the understanding and cooperation of the department supervisors and city employees.
If there are any questions relating to this report, I will be glad to answer them. I am in the office daily. Please call 393-5219 or come in and see me.
Best wishes to everyone for 2011.
Sincerely,
Dick Zink, Mayor
City of Hillsboro[[In-content Ad]]
The unencumbered balance in the General Fund was $ 429,030.09 at the end of 2010. This was down from the end of 2009. With the decrease in revenue, this balance was hard to achieve considering the present overall economical conditions and the unemployment percentage in Highland County. As I stated in the State of the City Report for year ending 2009, we would constantly monitor spending and reduce the same in order to end the year with an acceptable balance. This was achieved with the input and cooperation of the City Department Heads.
This past year saw the completion of the new Fire Station and the ground-breaking of the addition and upgrade to the Wastewater Treatment Plant, which was mandated by the EPA. The fire station architect estimate was $1,508,573 for the construction. The bid came in at $1,293,222, which was $215,351 less than the estimate.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant engineer’s estimate was $19,700,000. The actual contract was awarded for $13,788,000, which was $5,912,000 less. Additionally, Kirby Ellison, through her efforts in pursuing grant funding, received on the city’s behalf over $7,000,000 in grants. At the present time, the Wastewater Treatment upgrade is about 60 percent completed. The original estimate in the contract was 27 months; this would make the completion date about June of 2012. Providing the supplies make delivery dates, the completion could be as early as November 2011. We hold monthly construction meetings with the engineers, contractors, resident inspector, Wastewater Treatment Superintendent, electrical contractor, and City Administration.
The Water and Sewer Maintenance Department repaired 32 water main breaks during 2010. This amount was down from 57 breaks in 2009. These breaks included: 7 two-inch breaks, 9 four-inch breaks, 12 six-inch breaks, 1 eight-inch break, 2 ten-inch breaks, and 1 twelve-inch break. The department also repaired three service lines, installed one new service line, repaired twelve curb boxes, installed three new fire hydrants, and installed 2,000 linear feet of six-inch water main at the new Wastewater Treatment Plant. Additionally, the Hillsboro water distribution system was flushed for water quality for dead end mains at the end of each month. And on May 6 and Oct. 29, 2010, the entire system was flushed with the assistance from the Hillsboro Fire Department. The Meter Department spent 132 days reading meters, completed 1,004 work orders, installed or repaired 124 meters, and spent 43 days shutting off services for non-payment of bills.
The Street Department salted streets, plowed snow, replaced and straightened traffic and street signs. They also patched potholes, cleaned catch basins, changed bulbs in traffic lights, installed storm drains, repaired catch basins, picked up leaves, trimmed trees and maintained Liberty Park brush dump site.
The Water Treatment Plant pumped 270,839 million gallons of water. The average daily pumped was .742 million gallons per day. The reservoir levels as of Dec. 31, 2010 were approximately 105 million gallons at the Liberty Park location and 56 million gallons at the Selph Road reservoir. Based on the usage for the year 2010, the total water in both reservoirs is nearly a year’s supply.
As previously stated, the Wastewater Treatment Plant upgrade is moving along ahead of schedule. The total flow treated was 453,987 million gallons for 2010. A daily average was 1,244 million gallons. If you do the math, it is clear that we are treating more gallons of water at the Wastewater Treatment Plant than is being treated at the Water Treatment Plant. The difference is largely due to the inflow and infiltration into the sewer lines, especially during rain events. These are caused by a lot of downspouts from residents as well as sump pumps dumping into the sanitary sewer lines. There will be some corrections made in this area in the coming months. The Hillsboro Fire and EMS Department answered a total of 2,739 calls during 2010. This averaged 7.5 calls per day. Of the total calls, there were 438 fire calls and 2,301 EMS calls. A breakdown follows:
FIRE CALLS: Brushcreek, 2; Brown County, 0; Clay Township, 1; City of Hillsboro, 167; City of Greenfield, 4; Concord, 4; Dodson, 4; Fairfield, 4; Hamer, 9; Village of Highland, 0; Jackson, 13; Leesburg, 2; Liberty, 88; Lynchburg, 0; Madison, 4; Marshall, 10; Mowrystown, 1; New Market, 25; New Vienna, 1; Paint, 64; Paint Twp. (Ross Co.), 5; Peebles, 0; Penn, 8; Salem, 0; Sinking Spring, 0; Union, 2; Unknown, 3; Washington, 14; Washington C.H., 0; Whiteoak, 3.
EMS CALLS: Brushcreek, 15; Brown County, 1; Clay Township, 3; City of Hillsboro, 1,257; City of Greenfield, 0; Concord, 17; Dodson, 8; Fairfield, 1; Hamer, 39; Village of Highland, 1; Jackson, 69; Leesburg, 4; Liberty, 252; Lynchburg, 10; Madison, 2; Marshall, 57; Mowrystown, 3; New Market, 98; New Vienna, 0; Paint, 363; Paint Twp. (Ross Co.), 3; Peebles, 1; Penn, 11; Salem, 4; Sinking Spring, 5; Union, 5; Unknown, 0; Washington, 60; Washington C.H., 1; Whiteoak, 11.
From Jan. 20, 2010 through Dec. 20, 2010, the EMS runs within the City of Hillsboro totaled 722, while the runs outside the City (in the townships totaled 870. Mileage inside the city totaled 2,055 miles. Outside the city, the total mileage was 5,816. Non-residents were billed $746,835.54. Of this amount, the collections were $273,617.56, which leaves a balance of $473,217.98 not collected.
The Hillsboro Police Department 2010 statistics are as follows:
Total calls, 13,891; Accidents handled, 449; 911 calls, 256; Fatal accidents, 1; Offenses investigated, 979; Bar calls, 20; K-9 report, 26; Traffic arrests, 537; Criminal arrests, 1,181; Parking tickets, 13; Home Security check, 6,536; Total miles driven, 110,461; Fuel used, 9,262.5 gal.; Reserve Officer hours, 728.5 hrs.; Maintenance costs, $14,899.85.
The average number of calls per day was 38. (13,891 calls ~ 365 days = 38 per day.)
The number of calls were down 1,017 from 2009. Accidents handled were down by 65.
There were 57 more offenses investigated in 2010. Bar calls were down by 10. Traffic arrests were down 49. Criminal arrests were up 174, as were Home Security Checks up by 2,816.
The Police Department has been two positions short since 2004 and another position was eliminated due to a demise of one officer in 2009, leaving the department at bare bones to carry out the duties of keeping the community safe. For approximately six months of the year 2010, the Police Department was again without two more of their officers due to their retirement from the force. This left the department five officers short. Coupled with vacation time, personal days, and sick time, the department still accomplished the lower statistics. I have asked City Council to replace the two officer positions that were vacated due to retirement in 2010; however, budget constraints presently have restricted this request.
We in Administration will continue to monitor overtime and spending during the upcoming year. The 2011 budget is very tight; however, I’ve been able to end each of the past seven years as Mayor with an acceptable unencumbered balance in the general fund.
This has been with the understanding and cooperation of the department supervisors and city employees.
If there are any questions relating to this report, I will be glad to answer them. I am in the office daily. Please call 393-5219 or come in and see me.
Best wishes to everyone for 2011.
Sincerely,
Dick Zink, Mayor
City of Hillsboro[[In-content Ad]]