JOE HREN
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren, the first week of the month, and here we go with Columbus Mayor Mary Ferdon, hello and welcome. Can you believe it's June?
MARY FERDON
I can't and glad that we got through some of that colder weather back in May. It hasn't seemed normal. I was like, I think it was one of the coldest days at the at the racetrack, on Memorial- on Sunday before Memorial Day. And I know a lot of people have got swimming pools open but unable to use so it's nice to get warm again.
JOE HREN
Yeah. So speaking of weather, is cleanup still going on after- there were tornado warning, severe storms through the area. Just a couple weeks ago, I know we had one death down in Linton, Indiana. Some horses were killed in Brown County. I was live on the air when Bartholomew county came up under a tornado warning, how much damage and what's going on?
MARY FERDON
So, I'll have to say the City of Columbus was very fortunate. We had no damage in the city limits and even very little tree debris. So we were fortunate. It actually hit a little farther south and west on the Grand View area, and a number of homes got hit. Some, you know, lesser damage. Some, I think it was one or two that were totaled. So, the county jumped in, the city, we sent some staff last week to help do some cleanup. And so it's just a long process where I think we're fortunate again that nobody was killed. We had a staff member who lost their home, and that was really tough, but, yeah, this, the city itself was really fortunate, but I heard that we're we're now being kind of discussed, is that we're now part of tornado alley, that it's been moving east, and so I hate to hear that, because we've always been in a place where we've had severe storms and we've had occasional tornadoes, but to have the two tornadoes this year and then the flood in March is it's been a difficult spring.
JOE HREN
Yeah, kind of quick follow up from last month. Are you starting to get a better picture for the 2026 budget? And what are you learning?
MARY FERDON
We are starting to get a better picture. We're actually, as most cities are, we're in the planning stages, looking at capital and personnel requests, and so, you know, we think that we're going to take a little bit of a hit, so we're going to be careful, but we're... part of itm quite frankly, Joe is just waiting to see what the final numbers are, right? Where it's always a little bit of a guess that we get numbers from the state this year, we do expect a decrease from property taxes, and so we're just going to be a little bit more judicious as we budget, and, you know, try to allocate some reserve dollars for capital as we need it. But this, this won't be a year where we'll be able to start a whole lot of new projects. We'll just kind of, we're kind of in a wait-and-see attitude right now.
JOE HREN
I see Columbus is, it's the city utilities looking to a rate increase. What's the financial situation? What's needed over there?
MARY FERDON
Right, yeah. And that process actually started last I think last year, the first of this year, right? A water rate increase. And part of it is just just due diligence on capital needs. I think the both water and sewer systems is probably close to $100 million of capital needs over the next 10...years. And so it's just putting that in place, we still have some of the lower rates and in our any city our size, in the state, that doesn't make it easier for a property owner or a business owner, but it's really important that the, that the utilities keep up with new technology and making sure that they repair all of the equipment that they have out, because the last thing you want to see is the day that you wake up and your water doesn't work, or your toilet doesn't flush, right? So unfortunately, water rates are part of that process, but we try to, again, be judicious so that it's over time, and letting people know and and trying to, there are some ways that both residents and business owners can conserve water. And so, just educating them on and how to do that, when to irrigate, you know, when to fill their pool, that kind of thing. So it's an unfortunate fact of life. Everything's gone up right now. And so...
JOE HREN
What's the, the, where is it, right now? Last I think I heard which could be out of date, but the state wanted some more. Was public comment period?
MARY FERDON
Right, I think we had a public hearing, I think two weeks ago, which was required. And so there's, you know, just all, I think it's a 30 day. I, don't quote me on that. Yeah, comment period. I so we had two different open houses and letting people come in and speak, but we... the water rate, the rates increases have been in front of city council on numerous meetings, and so that's really where people tend to come and speak more than at public hearings.
JOE HREN
And meantime, city acquiring the former Sears building. I think that was last summer, city council approving funds for expenses. What's the process going on there?
MARY FERDON
So that was approved by City Council. The first meeting was, you know, a lot of questions, obviously, that really relate back to whether or not a city should be acquiring property as well as then having to pay for, you know, the the consequences of a water leak. Which does, there's, you know, unfortunately, we don't have any control over that, but City Council understands that by and large, we we own that property, so we have to pay taxes, we have to fix the water leak. And as you and I have talked, we we're in the middle of a 2030 downtown study, which actually she will be presented in July to the redevelopment commission as well as city council. And part of that goal, then, is that some of the property that we own, we get that in the hands of developer. Once we get a better feel for what would, what would be good for the city? You know, everybody has an idea of what, you know, we need restaurants. We need retail. We need housing. No, we don't need housing. We need a lot of housing. Oh, we, you know. So there's a lot of back and forth. And so we did look to experts who've who've listened a lot to the community, I think we've had, we're on to survey number two, and we've had well over 2,000 people who've taken these surveys. We've had hundreds of people show up to some public sessions. So we've got a lot of great public input, and I'm really intrigued with a lot of what I hear, but then we kind of pass it to experts who've studied what other works in other communities, and so they're going to come back with some recommendations. Long way of saying that at some point in time, our goal is just to get that that Sears building into the hands of a developer.
JOE HREN
So you know, you mentioned the downtown 2030 study, and we were just over in Terre Haute presenting a riverscape develop- development plan that's going to long, long term plan, but it reminds me of what Columbus is doing, and with the river, there. Is the river part of the downtown 2030 survey?
MARY FERDON
The river, I mean, the riverfront project is moving forward. We actually put an RFP for some bids, I think a week or two ago. So that project is is part of the downtown study in the understanding that, yes, it's going to be completed and and then helping us understand the connectivity from the downtown to Mill Race Park and to our riverfront, and how important that is. But what do we need to do to make that connectivity happen, right? Through trails and way finding and things of that nature. You know, unfortunately, the city, our downtown, is cut up a little bit with State Road 46 running through, you know, both directions, through the middle of our city. And that makes it, that makes it a challenge to get people across those streets. And so what can we do to make make it so attractive on the other side that that you do want to go over there, and then to make a set up a way that people can safely get across there. And if you're familiar with Columbus, you know that if you come in from the west side over the overpass, and then you're coming across the Stewart Bridge, you're on what's we called Second Street. It's State Road 46 but it's Second Street. So we're starting a project this year where we're we're going to slow that traffic down. We're putting out some bump outs. We're reducing the width of the lanes, because those you know, the wider it is, the faster people speed, right? And so we're going to, the goal is to slow down traffic. We're adding some parking along, so we're making a lot of- we're taking a lot of measures that should slow down traffic, which then makes it people feel more comfortable getting across the street. So unfortunately, we have a lot of semis who go through on 46, which is great for commerce, right? But it's it makes it difficult to to feel safe to get across the street.
JOE HREN
Yeah, definitely a major thoroughfare. So the, the development of the riverfront is- has to be in different stages, though, right? So the- and I know there's like a mitigation stage too. There's a dam that has to be repaired and, and so forth. So are they put into different- Are there different stages? Is there a long term, short term?
MARY FERDON
Well, you know the, we were hampered so much early on, and we started this process in 2017, 2018 and we, we had five to six years of regulatory permits, which is difficult for every community. And you know, if you have a couple hours, I'll tell you about it, but we only got permits and- but then we, you know, but that took us through COVID. And so it turned what was, you know, you know, an affordable project, into a project that was unaffordable. So we've pared back the scope and we've rebid it. And so, again, the goal is to take out the low head dam, which is a huge safety issue. We have an EPA super fund site that has been closed, and it's, it's safe, but it's right along the river, and so we need to stabilize those banks to make sure that long term, that that you know, that site won't fall into the river as the river erodes. So we've got to stabilize the banks. We've got a pedestrian, pedestrian crossing that's unsafe, that has to be fixed. And then our trail, we've got a missing piece of the trail that that people really need to be able to loop around the city. So those, those are the pieces that are now part of the scope. And so we'll be, as we say, phasing them in. The goal is to really being able to have those completed by the end of 2026, and so, you know, we're starting to do some of the clearing work now, like I said, that we rebid out the some of the other projects. And so, you know, our hope is, by later this fall, that we'll really see a lot of movement on that. So that is going to go forward.
JOE HREN
And then with the amenity type stuff, is that something that would be more for the long term, the 2030 plan?
MARY FERDON
Perhaps that we've got a we've built in a small pavilion so that people can kind of gather. You could have somebody playing music, you can eat that kind of thing, that that that's part of the scope. We'd originally had some in river recreation piece, but we've totally removed that out of the project. Unfortunately, just because the cost was so great, and that's what was providing a lot of the difficulty, and we just can't go another five to six years trying to figure out, you know, not not having fixed this unsafe features, and trying to figure out how to pay for it, because it's not going to get any cheaper. I can guarantee that.
JOE HREN
So something I read about, maybe it's a good problem to have. Nexus Park recently hosted the big event, but there was some parking and traffic in that area with businesses and residents. So what happened and what's the plan moving forward?
MARY FERDON
Right? Interestingly enough, yes, parking is a great problem to have, but it's not always a great problem to have to deal with. So yeah, we had one business in particular that a lot of some of our event attendees parked in their lot. And so we've, we've now, we're creating signs to put up which signage is one way to kind of guide people, please don't park here, or please park here. We've talked with some neighboring landlords who've agreed to loan us some parking space when we have some of the larger events. And part of the difficulty that we've had is that we have about 100 parking spaces that haven't gone online yet. There was an area of the campus that we, we have just added parking parking spaces. And there's another area that's immediately adjacent to the park that we'd had to close off because of construction traffic. So by mid to end of June, those parking spaces will all be open. So that's another 100 parking spaces. And we're redoing some of the parking lot, but most of it's at least going to be repaved and restriped. So we have areas where there's no parking striping, if that makes sense. And so people just kind of park however they choose to. I mean, stripes are there for a reason, right? They're the guide. So we believe that our by the next big event, that we'll have some things in play that will significantly cut, to cut down on on the parking issue. Unfortunately, you know, one of the the downsides is that some people just park wherever they choose to park, and so we've got to find a way to make sure that people understand that they can't hamper other businesses. But the majority of our neighbors love the big events because, you know, they provide a lot of customers for their for their their restaurant establishments, so...
JOE HREN
Well, like I said, it's a good problem they have. It sounds like things are going well over at Nexus Park.
MARY FERDON
Yeah, no. It's very busy. It is. It's exciting to see there. I just went in the field house yesterday. It's exciting to see. You know, that we- every time we add more scoreboards and and other things that make it a better playing field. In fact, in July, I'm not quite sure yet, when, but we'll have the last ribbon cutting at Nexus Park, which will be the midterm Midtown green, which is the name of the park immediately south, adjacent to to the entrance on the on the campus. And that will ribbon cut for that. And then once we will have our new parking spaces online, and hopefully that'll people will really be able to enjoy it then.
JOE HREN
So you. Talking about enjoying, it's summertime. Are there big festivals things people should know about?
MARY FERDON
Yeah, we, we had a really great festival last I think it was. I'm trying to think if it was last weekend the Columbus Asian Fest was great. Maybe that was two weekends ago. It's hard to remember. This coming weekend is going to be Aviation Day, right? It's out at the airport as actually aviation two days, Friday, June. Will that be the sixth, I think, and then they've got, and the neat thing is, in the evening, they've got a big drone show. Everything is free, food trucks and the whole nine yards. And so the airport really knows how to throw a party. So that is June 6 and 7. They have a big pancake breakfast in the morning, and then on June 7, downtown, we have, we're celebrating the Chuck Taylor day, because, you know, Chuck Taylor was from Columbus, and so there's a lot of festivities planned downtown for that to kind of commemorate and celebrate Chuck Taylor. In fact, is at one point time, there's going to be a picture in front of the library with everybody in their chucks. So if you have a pair, Joe, please come in for that picture. I think they've ordered, they've ordered a bunch of special shoes. So really excited about that and so. And then, you know, here on out, there's all kinds of festivals coming and going throughout the summer so. And then, I think this, this past weekend, we had a an interesting kind of experiment on Fourth Street, just bring in a band and just have people wander around with our new DORA.
JOE HREN
And that's going along pretty well?
MARY FERDON
It is, yeah, it is. So yeah, if you, if you haven't been to Columbus in a while, just find a weekend and come down and you'll find something going on.
JOE HREN
Yeah, it's fun time of the year. And just a full disclaimer for those listening to this on Wednesday, we're taping this a week in advance, because I'm out next week. So if anything big happens between now and Tuesday, it's it's not we're not ignoring it on the show. This has been pre recorded, so I appreciate you doing this for us a little bit early this week, but it's fun to talk about Columbus, so thank you.
MARY FERDON
It is, and it's fun to just think through, like, the next week ahead. So yeah.
JOE HREN
Thanks so much for being on the show, and I guess we'll see in July.
MARY FERDON
That'd be great. Looking forward to it. Thanks, Joe.
