Mayor: Woodstock Has "Come A Long Way, But We've Got a Long Way To Go"

Editor’s note: the following is the 2014 State of the City address made by Woodstock Mayor Donnie Henriques during the Jan. 26 City Council meeting.

2014 was every bit as successful as 2013 and in some cases even more successful. Our local economy continued to improve and we continued to make strides towards reaching our adopted goals. We have been recognized by others for our collective achievements and we continue to be cited as a model example to others.

I would be remiss at this point if I didn’t stop to acknowledge the loss of Ward 6 Council member Tessa Basford. To be honest, Tessa was unlike any other Council member I have ever worked with during my time with the city. Inspirational, compassionate, transformative, visionary are all words that I think of when I think of Tessa. She is greatly missed by our community, staff and elected officials. It breaks my heart over these many months to look at that empty chair and the void that her loss has created.

But, we also know that life must continue on and the business of the city doesn’t stop. We are pleased to welcome Rob Usher tonight who was just sworn in to the Ward 6 seat. I know Tessa and Rob were friends and that she would be pleased that you were the one selected to take her place.

With that being said, let’s take a look at what was accomplished in 2014.

General Administration

We started 2014 with Warren Johnson being sworn in as the new Council member for Ward 1. Bud, Bob and I were sworn in as well after our re-election.

Moody’s affirmed our A1 rating in December, citing our sizable tax base, recent growth, improved reserve funds, average debt and low pension burden.

The Finance Department received the Certificate in Achievement in Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association for the 20th year in a row. The certificate is the highest form of recognition in the area of governmental accounting and financial reporting.

We also were able to focus on paying down debt and increasing our reserves in 2014. The city reduced our outstanding debt by $4.4 million and increased reserves by $1.1 million, bringing our fund balance to over $2 million, which represents 14% of our general fund budget.

Our IT Department continues to lead the city towards the future with progressive technologies, having recently served as a case study by a national disaster recovery firm for utilizing virtualization technologies in our Disaster Recovery Plan. IT also launched Office 365 for the city employees. The city’s data services have been increased over 500% since 2008, while costs to provide those services have only increased approximately 20%.

Tracie Barnes left us as Human Resources director in June, and was replaced by Mindy Nobis as our new HR Manager. Rhonda Smith was also promoted to the position of deputy city clerk in July.

City Manager Jeff Moon completed the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Leadership Institute in September.

Community Development Department

Single-family residential construction continued on a pace similar to 2013 with 280 new single-family homes constructed. The trend is expected to continue as many new single-family lots are currently in the planning and development stages.

With the increase in new residences, over $450,000 in impact fees were collected that will help expand our parks and recreational opportunities.

We also saw work begin on transforming two empty big box sites into new businesses. Work has been completed on the demolition of the old Wal-Mart site in preparation for the new Sam’s Club. Redevelopment of the old Wal-Mart site has been one of my goals since I was first elected mayor and I am excited to see this finally happen. Renovations also began of the old Ingles site for a new Stars and Strikes Family Fun Center.

Work also began on the Livable Centers Initiative Plan for the Highway 92 corridor through a grant funded by the Atlanta Regional Commission, and I am excited about what this holds for the corridor in the future.

And finally, two accomplishments that should make us all proud that Community Development was recognized for in 2014:

• The city was recognized as a 2040+ Community by the ARC for having achieved “Excellence” in implementing the Plan2040 Regional Plan. Woodstock is one of only two communities in the metro area to have achieved this standard to date.
• The Georgia Department of Community Affairs recognized Woodstock as a Plan First Community. 2013 was the inaugural year for this program, which recognizes cities and counties from throughout the State of Georgia for their commitment to excellence in planning and plan implementation. Woodstock was one of only ten cities and counties statewide to receive this recognition.

Hats off to Jessica (Guinn) and her very capable staff, as well as our Planning Commission and the Council, for these accomplishments.

Economic Development Services/DDA/Main Street Program

In early 2014, the Georgia Department of Community Affairs honored the Main Street Program with an Award of Excellence in Economic Development for the prior year due to the program leading the way with first place finishes in four of the eight categories.

During the course of 2014, 31 new businesses opened creating 140 new jobs in the downtown district. 83 new homes were also built in downtown. We also saw our first brewery open in Woodstock - well maybe I should say our first legal brewery – when Reformation Brewery opened. We are expecting big things in the future from Reformation. With construction of new homes, apartments, commercial construction and road improvement, over $30 million was invested in downtown Woodstock.

The DDA purchased a 22 passenger trolley which operates on weekends and for special events. They also invested in the improvements around the Mill Street Parking Lot and we saw the first phase of the Way Finding sign program installed.

Finally, there were over 900 hours of volunteer time donated through the Main Street program. I love seeing residents and business owners working side by side for the betterment of downtown and for all of Woodstock.

Fire Department

Let’s start with an event that happened in early 2015. Our Fire Department received notice that their ISO Rating was being raised to a 1 from the 3 that they previously held. To put this in perspective, that makes Woodstock Fire the 7th department in the state and the 101st in the nation to achieve this rating. Wow. That’s quite an achievement. Kudos to Chief (Dave) Soumas and his command staff, the department as a whole, Pat Flood and the water department, GIS and everyone else who was involved in the process. Job well done.

During 2014, WFD responded to over 4,600 calls for service, up from 4,300 the year before. They also completed an average of 352 training hours per employee.

They conducted over 1,500 safety inspections, 166 child safety seat inspections and reached over 32,000 citizens through their various outreach efforts. And one thing you might not know: they are very active with Scottish Rite Hospital where Sparky makes room to room visits, they participated in the Christmas Angel Toy Delivery to the Aflac Center along with other events at the hospital.

In 2014 we also acquired a new Pierce fire engine capable of pumping 1,500 gallons per minute, ordered a new ladder truck that will be delivered later in 2015 and secured land for a third fire station.

Although we have achieved the ISO 1 rating, we have to continue moving forward to meet the service demands of a growing community.

Parks and Recreation

The 17th Annual Summer Concert Series proved to be successful, as always. Concerts included Joe Diffie, The Molly Ringwalds, The Jets, Kentucky Headhunters, and the always popular Swingin’ Medallions. On a related note, plans were finalized for the amphitheater and Council authorized it being put out for bid.

The city’s Greenprints trail system saw several additions in 2014. In March, the Town to Creek Trail and the Noonday Creek Trail opened, connecting downtown Woodstock to Highway 92. Combined, these trails total 1.5 miles and provide easy access for bikers and walkers. In October, the Family Mountain Bike Trail was constructed on the east side of Dupree Park. This new addition features 3 separate trails and a mountain bike skills area. A special Thank You to SORBA for the design and assistance in constructing these trails. In December, the bridge and boardwalk connection from the Noonday Trail to Woofstock Park was completed. This connection provides an additional trailhead and restrooms for trail patrons. Construction on the Rubes Creek Trail also started and will be completed this spring.

We also launched the Woodstock Trail Watch volunteer program to add another layer of safety on our trails. Since inception, 24 volunteers have completed training for the program. We appreciate the support of the Greenprints Alliance and SORBA for this new initiative.

Speaking of Woofstock Park, it saw its first full year of operation in 2014 and continues to be one of our most utilized parks. It has well surpassed our expectations in daily usage with over 100 estimated visits per day.

The William G. Long Senior Center currently has 675 registered members, an increase of 50 for the year. Activities offered at the center included 105 off-site bus trips and 19 special events hosted on-site. The Center averaged 43 daily participants.

Dupree Park saw some exciting additions in 2014, besides the mountain bike trails I already mentioned. A new 1/3 mile fitness trail was constructed. The trail is 8’ wide and circles the 5 acre green space at the park. Plans for 2015 include the installation of park fitness equipment, benches, lighting and upgraded landscaping at the fitness trail, in addition to resurfacing of the tennis courts.

Police Department

The Woodstock Police Department responded to almost 41,000 calls for service, an increase over 2013’s 31,000 calls for service. The Department received their recertification from the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, which is no small accomplishment.

A few interesting statistics for WPD in 2014: 2,080 foot patrols, 188 bike patrols, 6 teen driving classes with150 participants, 2 sessions of the Public Safety Academy reaching 55 citizens; nearly 400 citizens have now completed the program since its inception, and over 2,300 volunteer hours by the Auxiliary and Reserves.

The WPD Explorer Post competed against 75 other groups from across the country and achieved two 1st places, one 2nd place, a fourth and a fifth place finish in various categories.

The Woodstock Police Foundation raised over $56,000 through a variety of events, helping over 142 area children in the annual Shop with a Hero program.

WPD is very active in the area of social media, with over 4,600 Twitter followers, over 4,500 Facebook likes, over 1,900 Nixle followers and over 800 Nation of Neighbors participants.

I am extremely proud of the Narcan initiative the department has undertaken. For those of you who don’t know, Narcan is an easy-to-use, lifesaving antidote for overdoses from heroin or other opioids. Since its deployment, the medication used by WPD officers have saved the lives of 5 individuals who were near death due to overdose.

I want to add that in a year when so much was in the media across the country about police, I am extremely proud of the men and women of our department for their professionalism and dedication to our community.

Public Works Department

We survived Snowpocalypse in February and I am extremely proud of how our employees responded to keep the roads as passable as possible during the event. We have purchased an additional sand spreader and plow to help be ready for the next event.

Over 1.63 miles of roadway were paved, as well as the Mill Street parking lot and the Magnolia Hall parking lot. Over 7 miles of striping was completed, six crosswalks were repainted, and most city parking lots were re-striped. Construction on the final phase of the Ridgewalk Parkway widening project began and will be completed in a few months.

Stormwater replaced pipes and storm structures for 4 stream crossings on Franklin Drive, Park Ave and Finch Ct. Over 1,000 storm structures were inspected and over 209,000 lbs. of debris were swept up by our street sweeper, keeping them out of our local waterways.

Water and Sewer repaired and or replaced all the out of service fire hydrants in the city in preparation of the ISO review. We made progress in our search for water wells and replaced all of the membranes at the Rubes Creek treatment plant. Through a concerted effort, our water losses were reduced by 30%.

The roof was replaced at our Public Works building and the interior of the building was completely remodeled, which was much needed.

Closing

In closing, I want to say that I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish in 2014 as a team. Award winning downtown, award winning departments: Community Development, Parks and Recreation, Finance, Fire, Police, it goes on and on. But it’s not enough. There is more to do, problems to address, progress to be made. Proud? Yes. Satisfied? No.

I want to challenge the city — Council, staff and residents — don’t become complacent. Don’t rest on your laurels. Don’t fall into the trap of paralysis by analysis. Keep moving forward, keep running the ball down field, keep the needle moving and keep fighting the good fight. We’ve come a long way – but we’ve got a long way to go. Here’s to 2015.

Sign up for the Woodstock-Towne Lake Patch newsletter!