Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren in Terre Haute with Mayor Brandon Sakbun. Hello welcome to the show. So nice to have you and we appreciate you keeping the tradition going.
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Joe you know always happy to be on on any NPR affiliate. I always joke of as a kid listening all things considered going to and from school. So happy to be here with you guys chat a little bit about Terre Haute. The mayoral transitions, some upcoming challenges ahead as well as upcoming opportunities for the city.
Speaker 1
Great well for it. So being our first show with Mayor Sakbun defeated longtime Republican mayor Duke Bennett, for those especially in the listening area of south central Indiana who listen to this program. Let's just start maybe a little bit of an introduction about who you are and why you ran for mayor.
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. So I was born and raised in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of immigrants. My mom's from a small coffee meeting farm in Jamaica. My dad is a genocide survivor from Cambodia. And they met while he was doing his residency out on the East Coast in New York, chose to come to the city of Terre Haute for potential. They instilled public service and patriotism to me at a very young age. I was blessed to have a strong support system here in Terre Haute, local community members, friends, parents, grandparents and fellow church goers and I really wanted to give back to the city of Terre public service has been my dream. It's been my passion. I served in the United States military active duty side for several years and transitioned to Indiana National Guard started getting into teaching and ultimately felt a call to public service was was taking me to the mayor's office and I always look at Terre Haute and I see it all the time and I just see so much potential in paradise. Whether it's driving to and from the office or back and forth in between meetings, my mind is always going have the potential of turning around a property turning around a street block and how all of that leads to turning around a city and that's what we're excited to do here here in Terre Haute, whether it's revamping city ordinances from from zoning right away development, to you know, investing in the river and in downtown Terre Haute and watching the East Side grow. I mean, there's so much potential in a class two city like Terre Haute in a state like Indiana. Is
Speaker 1
it fair to say once the mayoral race started kind of one thing just led to another? Yeah.
Speaker 2
Oh, you're always uncovering new. Yeah, facts because you meet so many people, which I think is beautiful. And that's really what would politics and public servers should be about is serving the people getting in front of new groups and and everyone has their list of demands or needs or wants but having a long conversation of okay, how can we synchronize deals legislation, grant based funding and development to appeal to the most possible groups and that's the enjoyable part of this job. Love battling the day to day activities of a mayor, which to be quite frank change every day. But it's really it's been it's been a dream come true to be able to serve the people of Terre Haute.
Speaker 1
So how has this transition been? And it's only been a week or so. So I know it's really early. But and I know you have a lot on your plate. So yeah, just kind of how was that going? Well,
Speaker 2
so on election night, and then the former mayor Deke Bennett, he did reach out and we honestly got straight to work. He took a couple of days off, set me up some office space, and we instantly started setting up meetings with previous department heads and a lot of those department heads did stay we I think we kept five in total. But we created a transition team, a mixture of former state senators, business leaders, former mayor Clint Lansdown itself and even came up and lend a hand and former city council officials and commissioners and we mapped out where we want to go in terms of the city staff looking at restructuring some folks duties and responsibilities. We did hire a lot of new department heads as well. And then the game was on right. Through the month of December, we had the administrative kind of handover change over the interview process and we got straight to work looking at what our goals were not just for 100 days, but really the next four years. And that's been truly an eye opening experience. So we are doing some financial audits and reviewing the budget with some independent firms or setting the conditions to apply for opportunities that we just hadn't been as much in the past, working across the region to promote the Ready 2.0 program conversations with the IDC staying tuned to what's going on with the state legend. Slater and any legislation that might affect municipal government. So we're firing on all cylinders. I'm an early riser. I work late at night. And so just channeling all that energy in a tear dice. So
Speaker 1
obviously, you're getting settled right now let's talk about a couple of those big picture items, maybe this year, what items are kind of centering your attention. So,
Speaker 2
you know, a big ones a long term control plan. And it's not as you know, eye catching is a large grant to transform downtown, which we are pursuing, by the way, but it is It is awesome to see that city, you know, some city utilities, some former city utilities, just the pipes in the ground mean so much. So just getting that mapped out approved by the state and communicating to the taxpayers that, hey, this is where the dollars are going to update our infrastructure. We have to do it for two reasons. One to take care of the current motions here. We owe it to them to provide the best wastewater stormwater situation in a municipal government city. And the second is, if we don't update, you know, it might hamper development. So blending that conversation and taking care of the folks here while appealing to new companies and families moving in is and that's that's really kind of the meat and potatoes, a long term control plane is trying to bite down that cause trying to take on as much from a city perspective and, and really minimize the increases to taxpayers. That's always our focus, how can we have the most optimal services in government, and it reduces costs on taxpayers, and that's our goal. But truth be told some, many of our cities, cities fees hadn't been raised in decades, you know, building permits building license right away inspection. And those you know, stormwater improvements, those little projects add up and get offloaded by only one to two city bill. So finding a way to even that out and provide the least burden to the taxpayer.
Speaker 1
I have to ask it, because you mentioned a grant that could transform downtown, what are you referring to?
Speaker 2
So there's a couple of different programs we're going to use there, one that we know of that we do have all presented the city council and to other stakeholders, using funds from the American rescue plan act to target the infrastructure downtown to set the conditions for a new downtown hotel. And, you know, we want to see skywalks connecting hotels and the convention center and we want to see foot traffic, create a walkable community. So working with the downtown TIF, district, Tax Incremental finance district, as well as ARPA dollars and packaging that deal together has been definitely the highlights and you know, started working on that back in November, after the election and really hoping to get that finalized by the spring. So that's one opportunity. And, you know, we are pursuing other opportunities. At the state level, we will be very competitive when it comes to ready. So the regional initiative and putting on a good unified front and hoping to have a very good City County project combined. I love working with our county government. And you know, a lot of people they always ask me, Well, you know, they're a Republican, you're a Democrat, and I go, Hey, it's all team paradise, right? You know, we're all focused, we're focused on making the community better, and some days that's fixing potholes. And then an hour later, it's coming together and seats and ties to pitch a good plan for something like ready, or other federal opportunities. So it's all about teamwork. And we've got a couple of good projects lined up and we just approved some enhancements on the east side. Let that development continue to grow. So we're chipping away already.
Speaker 1
Housing is such a big issue on the show, no matter what city we're in, and Mayor betta talked about the housing plan for Vigo County as a whole talking up to about 1000 homes over the next five years using incentives. Yeah. What would you like to see in that plan? Are you on board with that? Yeah.
Speaker 2
So I'm a member that steering committee and, you know, the first round of funding we had $1.8 million. The American rescue plan comes to the state, the state push it out there ready. So truly from from the top of the ticket from the president's office and the folks in DC all the way down? What does that mean to the average motion? We took $1.8 million, cut it up in the different grants, gave it to builders, which led up $50 million of private investment. Joe, if you were I had done that on Wall Street, I mean, there'd be a movie. I mean, that mean that is that that is government getting a return on investment that high. It's truly amazing to see. So then the county and city put 5 million, 5 million each again, money from the American rescue play an act and the current administration in DC. And we said, let's do this times five. So we've adjusted some of the the grant app cations so that way nonprofits can apply groups wanting to rehab homes can apply. Bigger builders focused on 10 to 20 homes can apply and smaller builders focused on five can apply. We're going to look at our city owned properties as well, having a conversation of can we can we offload some of these vacant lots some of these properties and work with the private sector? Yes, the 1000s of golden five years. But we have another problem on our hand. We've got multiple companies coming to town, some companies that are in town that want to expand, so we don't need the housing in five years. We probably need it in five months. So we're really working with Thrive West Central Indiana, partnering with them to take this fun. These funds from ARPA, give it to builders through a grant program. And we've seen some great neighborhood investment already from several local builders. The next application is opening up later this week. And we're hoping to see a slew of applicants there to allocate more funds to build more homes for Haitians and Hoosiers alike. I'd argue we're going to do it better than most folks in Indiana, I think that 1.8 to $50 million ratio show that we do have a system in place. And so it's going to continue to grow here in Fairhope.
Speaker 1
So I know former mayor Bennett was was pushing through a lot of parks updates and constructions or is that still moving forward? To see
Speaker 2
two of them? For sure. I mean, when would you look at hertz rose Park off look history, you know, we're ready and prepared to bring some legislation to the council to fund that that project through the American rescue play an act. And so we've got some, we're getting some bids coming in to to get the final price. We are moving forward with Ray Park desperately needs an upgrade municipal golf course. And, you know, it's hard to profit on those. But that corpse has really turned the corner in the last few years. So working with the park superintendent, the golf pro out there, we are seeing positive changes and those changes will be rewarded with a positive investment to transform that clubhouse. But it's not just a golf course. You know, we're talking about tennis, we're talking about pickleball fastest growing sport in America. Right? We got several courts here, I'll play anytime. Well not because that's raining. We're looking to add that a we partnered with the county to get a next level trail grant from the state to get a walking trail all the way around connected to two areas in the county. I mean, that's the type of collaboration that we are going to continue to do and at times do do at a higher scale. So those are two parks projects I'm very excited about. We're exploring other opportunities to finance different parks improvements just across the city as well. Fairbanks master plan was released. We are kind of putting a pause on that because we have so many groups working on the river right now. And that's what I'm really pumped to talk about the hidden gem of Terre Haute, the Wabash River. So there's a group that's working with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to do a study on the river to see what the development could look like a lot of stakeholders, their current property owners, different groups. So what we're we're excited to see the results of that study and then start moving towards the pre site development phase.
Speaker 1
Like you should get together with Mayor Jim Lin up in Columbus and hear about their journey will say on trying to develop the river but what a great asset not every town or city in Indiana can say they have a river in their backyard. Yeah.
Speaker 2
I mean, we you just look at Terre Haute, right. I say we're the educational Oasis of the state of Indiana. Not only do we have four universities here in the United States, St. Mary, the woods, Ivy Tech rose Holman, you draw a 60 mile radius now draw circle, look at all the other universities that we capture some from Illinois. You know, I'm hoping to get some of these Illinois folks to look at companies here in Terre Haute. If you're an employer out there right now, why would you not consider moving to Terre Haute, Indiana, with the universities that we have and we're going to completely revamp and improve our current workforce development programs as well. I mean, we will find a way to get employees we will find a way to get graduates whether that's at the high school level or college level, but we're pumped here and we're ready to seize on some of the past momentum and take it to a new level.
Speaker 1
So Churchill Downs announced casino Grand Opening April 5. Big news. You know, some people though don't agree don't think gambling is something the profit of won't make the money will increase crime won't increase the economy here. Are you on board with the casino?
Speaker 2
Well, look, here's the thing. If I could go back in time, I would go back and actually gamble and bet that Andrew Luck would retire before he hit 31 years old, and then I wouldn't be here. So you can't go back and change that legislation. Folks. That casino is coming. The doors are opening in the spring but You know, you don't need to be the Secretary of Transportation to understand that 1.1 million new tourists might create weather traffic concerns, and we are already looking to address those, you know, kind of restructuring current, Margaret, and how can we add lanes expand lanes along there to help the flow of traffic. And a lot of businesses are wanting to come to the east side. So we're in close conversation with several businesses, we just approved a new connector road to the airport and State Road 46. They're doing a study on that, getting a watermain out there to prep that entire area, the entire east side for commercial development. So we're really seizing on that momentum. You know, the casino will bring in some some tax dollars and it fluctuates every year. So we'll look at what are some short term capital improvements we can make, you know, let's find five or six different parks that can use some investment this year that have minimal upkeep over the years. Let's pave more streets, let's build more sidewalks. I mean, we're going to take advantage of this casino dollars and put them to good use. From a public safety standpoint. We have extensive meetings, the chief of police myself, the fire chief as well with the casino to ensure that we are prepared. We've conducted some prudent planning and in case of any emergencies, and we feel confident that potions and Hoosiers alike will have a safe, enjoyable and fun experience in the city of Terre Haute. So
Speaker 1
residents have been worried here while about this proposed carbon emission underground storage. We've been covering this and I know this is not a like a direct city issue. But people are concerned we we had a forum hosted with media and and state in and you know this? I mean, this has just been a hot topic
Speaker 2
it has Yeah, in you know, you've got the federal government working with the state government to provide, you know, strong financial compensation for this project to happen. But there are folks that are concerned and rightfully so. And yes, you're correct. It's a county project. But a lot of times you see different mayors and in different city officials be very quick to smile at the camera when County project goes right and then quickly say, Well, that's an academy when that when the problems go. So I think on the one end from a mayor's perspective, what you can do is have conversations about that business development agreement. What are the soil and water testing and notification strategies in place for all the families in the area and the facilities in the area? What is the emergency services plan? You know, is it a county and city collaboration? Do we need to have folks on call at the state level? That you know, you can start those conversations you can say hey, how can this company invest in the community to make sure that these families feel safe? Not at all able to legally stop the legislation. I mean, that's that is out of my hands. But what is in my hands and making sure that who's your families, we do everything we can at our level to make sure that they're safe, and they feel comfortable. So in part of that is voicing their concerns to the higher level to which which I have and you know, and I will say it does not fall on deaf ears, you know, the our state representatives have had many conversations with them and many are are going to have more this legislative session. So even the folks that voted for the project, I've been very impressed with Representative Tanya path and all she's done to be an open book and have conversations with folks to look at state legislation that might alleviate some of the concerns. And so I take that same approach and say, Hey, what local legislations or what conversations can we have to alleviate folks concerns?
Speaker 1
I've heard maybe construction could start in the next couple of months. Have you heard anything? There's
Speaker 2
Oh, there's a permitting process and different government agencies at the state and federal levels. So you know, some days I hear a few weeks, the next day, I hear a few months, and sometimes I've heard years and it's just staying, you know, keeping your ear to the ground and having good communication with the company itself.
Speaker 1
City budget, how's it look like going into 2024? So far? Yeah. So
Speaker 2
you know, we've got an 8% cash balance in the general fund, and that's low. We don't want it to be 8% and that the city has navigated some financial concerns the last 1216 years. So we're hoping to increase that eight percents or not surplus but reserve fund a little bit closer to 12 to 15%. We are reviewing kind of our how we're how we're collecting our revenue, our billing departments and in some some city staff members are reviewing theirs. We are completely looking at, you know, we formed a State and Federal Strategic Planning Committee with our different stakeholders, the lobbyists and other government entities to say hey, how can we seek more state and federal tax dollars to offset some of the charges and fees concerns with the city budget. So we are working around the clock. And we have started in independent financial audit and having conversations with an outside company to get a unopinionated look at it as well. So we've got some stuff we can tighten up on our end. But you know, there's some benefits, if at the federal level, gas prices have fallen the last three months alone, that saved three months of the gas budget from 2023. And those funds are rolling over. And, you know, we're making sure we have enough for gas. But you know, there have been some finally the supply chain is slowly starting to recover. So we will see some benefit there. But, you know, I look at the budget each day, and I'm in constant contact with the Comptroller and finding the best ways to optimize that city budget.
Speaker 1
Well, that was all I had. But I always like to end with any announcements you might have or kind of a final word from the mayor for this month.
Speaker 2
Yeah, no, see, I mean, you absolutely are drinking through a firehose, you know, one day, one second, you're working with the school corporation to revamp mayor's characters awards, and make sure you've got a close working relationship and supporting them to the highest extent. The next second, you're at Indiana State University, followed by an economic development meeting, and then you're helping someone fix their stormwater drain. It's funny, I'm in a suit and tie today, but just just earlier today, I was helping someone with a stormwater drain and that wastewater problem so staying flexible, but also staying open. I'm very open about communication and freely give out my cell phone number to folks as well as put my email all over the place and, you know, addressing constituent concerns, a huge part of this. We're revamping our city communication, we're going to hopefully start a kind of every other week newsletter here in February. So we're getting or in the nascent stages of that. We will finish up a mayor's podcast here soon. So looking forward to starting that just really communicating what the current government services are. I think there's a big gap on in the public of what we what we already are doing. So it's been a very, very fun transition. It's exciting. You never know what you're gonna get. But I love it. I love being able to serve the people of Terre Haute and I'm looking forward to the next four years.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much for doing this. What was hope we'll see in February.
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you
Hello and welcome to ask the mayor on WFIU. I'm Joe Hren in Terre Haute with Mayor Brandon Sakbun. Hello welcome to the show. So nice to have you and we appreciate you keeping the tradition going.
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Joe you know always happy to be on on any NPR affiliate. I always joke of as a kid listening all things considered going to and from school. So happy to be here with you guys chat a little bit about Terre Haute. The mayoral transitions, some upcoming challenges ahead as well as upcoming opportunities for the city.
Speaker 1
Great well for it. So being our first show with Mayor Sakbun defeated longtime Republican mayor Duke Bennett, for those especially in the listening area of south central Indiana who listen to this program. Let's just start maybe a little bit of an introduction about who you are and why you ran for mayor.
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. So I was born and raised in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of immigrants. My mom's from a small coffee meeting farm in Jamaica. My dad is a genocide survivor from Cambodia. And they met while he was doing his residency out on the East Coast in New York, chose to come to the city of Terre Haute for potential. They instilled public service and patriotism to me at a very young age. I was blessed to have a strong support system here in Terre Haute, local community members, friends, parents, grandparents and fellow church goers and I really wanted to give back to the city of Terre public service has been my dream. It's been my passion. I served in the United States military active duty side for several years and transitioned to Indiana National Guard started getting into teaching and ultimately felt a call to public service was was taking me to the mayor's office and I always look at Terre Haute and I see it all the time and I just see so much potential in paradise. Whether it's driving to and from the office or back and forth in between meetings, my mind is always going have the potential of turning around a property turning around a street block and how all of that leads to turning around a city and that's what we're excited to do here here in Terre Haute, whether it's revamping city ordinances from from zoning right away development, to you know, investing in the river and in downtown Terre Haute and watching the East Side grow. I mean, there's so much potential in a class two city like Terre Haute in a state like Indiana. Is
Speaker 1
it fair to say once the mayoral race started kind of one thing just led to another? Yeah.
Speaker 2
Oh, you're always uncovering new. Yeah, facts because you meet so many people, which I think is beautiful. And that's really what would politics and public servers should be about is serving the people getting in front of new groups and and everyone has their list of demands or needs or wants but having a long conversation of okay, how can we synchronize deals legislation, grant based funding and development to appeal to the most possible groups and that's the enjoyable part of this job. Love battling the day to day activities of a mayor, which to be quite frank change every day. But it's really it's been it's been a dream come true to be able to serve the people of Terre Haute.
Speaker 1
So how has this transition been? And it's only been a week or so. So I know it's really early. But and I know you have a lot on your plate. So yeah, just kind of how was that going? Well,
Speaker 2
so on election night, and then the former mayor Deke Bennett, he did reach out and we honestly got straight to work. He took a couple of days off, set me up some office space, and we instantly started setting up meetings with previous department heads and a lot of those department heads did stay we I think we kept five in total. But we created a transition team, a mixture of former state senators, business leaders, former mayor Clint Lansdown itself and even came up and lend a hand and former city council officials and commissioners and we mapped out where we want to go in terms of the city staff looking at restructuring some folks duties and responsibilities. We did hire a lot of new department heads as well. And then the game was on right. Through the month of December, we had the administrative kind of handover change over the interview process and we got straight to work looking at what our goals were not just for 100 days, but really the next four years. And that's been truly an eye opening experience. So we are doing some financial audits and reviewing the budget with some independent firms or setting the conditions to apply for opportunities that we just hadn't been as much in the past, working across the region to promote the Ready 2.0 program conversations with the IDC staying tuned to what's going on with the state legend. Slater and any legislation that might affect municipal government. So we're firing on all cylinders. I'm an early riser. I work late at night. And so just channeling all that energy in a tear dice. So
Speaker 1
obviously, you're getting settled right now let's talk about a couple of those big picture items, maybe this year, what items are kind of centering your attention. So,
Speaker 2
you know, a big ones a long term control plan. And it's not as you know, eye catching is a large grant to transform downtown, which we are pursuing, by the way, but it is It is awesome to see that city, you know, some city utilities, some former city utilities, just the pipes in the ground mean so much. So just getting that mapped out approved by the state and communicating to the taxpayers that, hey, this is where the dollars are going to update our infrastructure. We have to do it for two reasons. One to take care of the current motions here. We owe it to them to provide the best wastewater stormwater situation in a municipal government city. And the second is, if we don't update, you know, it might hamper development. So blending that conversation and taking care of the folks here while appealing to new companies and families moving in is and that's that's really kind of the meat and potatoes, a long term control plane is trying to bite down that cause trying to take on as much from a city perspective and, and really minimize the increases to taxpayers. That's always our focus, how can we have the most optimal services in government, and it reduces costs on taxpayers, and that's our goal. But truth be told some, many of our cities, cities fees hadn't been raised in decades, you know, building permits building license right away inspection. And those you know, stormwater improvements, those little projects add up and get offloaded by only one to two city bill. So finding a way to even that out and provide the least burden to the taxpayer.
Speaker 1
I have to ask it, because you mentioned a grant that could transform downtown, what are you referring to?
Speaker 2
So there's a couple of different programs we're going to use there, one that we know of that we do have all presented the city council and to other stakeholders, using funds from the American rescue plan act to target the infrastructure downtown to set the conditions for a new downtown hotel. And, you know, we want to see skywalks connecting hotels and the convention center and we want to see foot traffic, create a walkable community. So working with the downtown TIF, district, Tax Incremental finance district, as well as ARPA dollars and packaging that deal together has been definitely the highlights and you know, started working on that back in November, after the election and really hoping to get that finalized by the spring. So that's one opportunity. And, you know, we are pursuing other opportunities. At the state level, we will be very competitive when it comes to ready. So the regional initiative and putting on a good unified front and hoping to have a very good City County project combined. I love working with our county government. And you know, a lot of people they always ask me, Well, you know, they're a Republican, you're a Democrat, and I go, Hey, it's all team paradise, right? You know, we're all focused, we're focused on making the community better, and some days that's fixing potholes. And then an hour later, it's coming together and seats and ties to pitch a good plan for something like ready, or other federal opportunities. So it's all about teamwork. And we've got a couple of good projects lined up and we just approved some enhancements on the east side. Let that development continue to grow. So we're chipping away already.
Speaker 1
Housing is such a big issue on the show, no matter what city we're in, and Mayor betta talked about the housing plan for Vigo County as a whole talking up to about 1000 homes over the next five years using incentives. Yeah. What would you like to see in that plan? Are you on board with that? Yeah.
Speaker 2
So I'm a member that steering committee and, you know, the first round of funding we had $1.8 million. The American rescue plan comes to the state, the state push it out there ready. So truly from from the top of the ticket from the president's office and the folks in DC all the way down? What does that mean to the average motion? We took $1.8 million, cut it up in the different grants, gave it to builders, which led up $50 million of private investment. Joe, if you were I had done that on Wall Street, I mean, there'd be a movie. I mean, that mean that is that that is government getting a return on investment that high. It's truly amazing to see. So then the county and city put 5 million, 5 million each again, money from the American rescue play an act and the current administration in DC. And we said, let's do this times five. So we've adjusted some of the the grant app cations so that way nonprofits can apply groups wanting to rehab homes can apply. Bigger builders focused on 10 to 20 homes can apply and smaller builders focused on five can apply. We're going to look at our city owned properties as well, having a conversation of can we can we offload some of these vacant lots some of these properties and work with the private sector? Yes, the 1000s of golden five years. But we have another problem on our hand. We've got multiple companies coming to town, some companies that are in town that want to expand, so we don't need the housing in five years. We probably need it in five months. So we're really working with Thrive West Central Indiana, partnering with them to take this fun. These funds from ARPA, give it to builders through a grant program. And we've seen some great neighborhood investment already from several local builders. The next application is opening up later this week. And we're hoping to see a slew of applicants there to allocate more funds to build more homes for Haitians and Hoosiers alike. I'd argue we're going to do it better than most folks in Indiana, I think that 1.8 to $50 million ratio show that we do have a system in place. And so it's going to continue to grow here in Fairhope.
Speaker 1
So I know former mayor Bennett was was pushing through a lot of parks updates and constructions or is that still moving forward? To see
Speaker 2
two of them? For sure. I mean, when would you look at hertz rose Park off look history, you know, we're ready and prepared to bring some legislation to the council to fund that that project through the American rescue play an act. And so we've got some, we're getting some bids coming in to to get the final price. We are moving forward with Ray Park desperately needs an upgrade municipal golf course. And, you know, it's hard to profit on those. But that corpse has really turned the corner in the last few years. So working with the park superintendent, the golf pro out there, we are seeing positive changes and those changes will be rewarded with a positive investment to transform that clubhouse. But it's not just a golf course. You know, we're talking about tennis, we're talking about pickleball fastest growing sport in America. Right? We got several courts here, I'll play anytime. Well not because that's raining. We're looking to add that a we partnered with the county to get a next level trail grant from the state to get a walking trail all the way around connected to two areas in the county. I mean, that's the type of collaboration that we are going to continue to do and at times do do at a higher scale. So those are two parks projects I'm very excited about. We're exploring other opportunities to finance different parks improvements just across the city as well. Fairbanks master plan was released. We are kind of putting a pause on that because we have so many groups working on the river right now. And that's what I'm really pumped to talk about the hidden gem of Terre Haute, the Wabash River. So there's a group that's working with the United States Army Corps of Engineers to do a study on the river to see what the development could look like a lot of stakeholders, their current property owners, different groups. So what we're we're excited to see the results of that study and then start moving towards the pre site development phase.
Speaker 1
Like you should get together with Mayor Jim Lin up in Columbus and hear about their journey will say on trying to develop the river but what a great asset not every town or city in Indiana can say they have a river in their backyard. Yeah.
Speaker 2
I mean, we you just look at Terre Haute, right. I say we're the educational Oasis of the state of Indiana. Not only do we have four universities here in the United States, St. Mary, the woods, Ivy Tech rose Holman, you draw a 60 mile radius now draw circle, look at all the other universities that we capture some from Illinois. You know, I'm hoping to get some of these Illinois folks to look at companies here in Terre Haute. If you're an employer out there right now, why would you not consider moving to Terre Haute, Indiana, with the universities that we have and we're going to completely revamp and improve our current workforce development programs as well. I mean, we will find a way to get employees we will find a way to get graduates whether that's at the high school level or college level, but we're pumped here and we're ready to seize on some of the past momentum and take it to a new level.
Speaker 1
So Churchill Downs announced casino Grand Opening April 5. Big news. You know, some people though don't agree don't think gambling is something the profit of won't make the money will increase crime won't increase the economy here. Are you on board with the casino?
Speaker 2
Well, look, here's the thing. If I could go back in time, I would go back and actually gamble and bet that Andrew Luck would retire before he hit 31 years old, and then I wouldn't be here. So you can't go back and change that legislation. Folks. That casino is coming. The doors are opening in the spring but You know, you don't need to be the Secretary of Transportation to understand that 1.1 million new tourists might create weather traffic concerns, and we are already looking to address those, you know, kind of restructuring current, Margaret, and how can we add lanes expand lanes along there to help the flow of traffic. And a lot of businesses are wanting to come to the east side. So we're in close conversation with several businesses, we just approved a new connector road to the airport and State Road 46. They're doing a study on that, getting a watermain out there to prep that entire area, the entire east side for commercial development. So we're really seizing on that momentum. You know, the casino will bring in some some tax dollars and it fluctuates every year. So we'll look at what are some short term capital improvements we can make, you know, let's find five or six different parks that can use some investment this year that have minimal upkeep over the years. Let's pave more streets, let's build more sidewalks. I mean, we're going to take advantage of this casino dollars and put them to good use. From a public safety standpoint. We have extensive meetings, the chief of police myself, the fire chief as well with the casino to ensure that we are prepared. We've conducted some prudent planning and in case of any emergencies, and we feel confident that potions and Hoosiers alike will have a safe, enjoyable and fun experience in the city of Terre Haute. So
Speaker 1
residents have been worried here while about this proposed carbon emission underground storage. We've been covering this and I know this is not a like a direct city issue. But people are concerned we we had a forum hosted with media and and state in and you know this? I mean, this has just been a hot topic
Speaker 2
it has Yeah, in you know, you've got the federal government working with the state government to provide, you know, strong financial compensation for this project to happen. But there are folks that are concerned and rightfully so. And yes, you're correct. It's a county project. But a lot of times you see different mayors and in different city officials be very quick to smile at the camera when County project goes right and then quickly say, Well, that's an academy when that when the problems go. So I think on the one end from a mayor's perspective, what you can do is have conversations about that business development agreement. What are the soil and water testing and notification strategies in place for all the families in the area and the facilities in the area? What is the emergency services plan? You know, is it a county and city collaboration? Do we need to have folks on call at the state level? That you know, you can start those conversations you can say hey, how can this company invest in the community to make sure that these families feel safe? Not at all able to legally stop the legislation. I mean, that's that is out of my hands. But what is in my hands and making sure that who's your families, we do everything we can at our level to make sure that they're safe, and they feel comfortable. So in part of that is voicing their concerns to the higher level to which which I have and you know, and I will say it does not fall on deaf ears, you know, the our state representatives have had many conversations with them and many are are going to have more this legislative session. So even the folks that voted for the project, I've been very impressed with Representative Tanya path and all she's done to be an open book and have conversations with folks to look at state legislation that might alleviate some of the concerns. And so I take that same approach and say, Hey, what local legislations or what conversations can we have to alleviate folks concerns?
Speaker 1
I've heard maybe construction could start in the next couple of months. Have you heard anything? There's
Speaker 2
Oh, there's a permitting process and different government agencies at the state and federal levels. So you know, some days I hear a few weeks, the next day, I hear a few months, and sometimes I've heard years and it's just staying, you know, keeping your ear to the ground and having good communication with the company itself.
Speaker 1
City budget, how's it look like going into 2024? So far? Yeah. So
Speaker 2
you know, we've got an 8% cash balance in the general fund, and that's low. We don't want it to be 8% and that the city has navigated some financial concerns the last 1216 years. So we're hoping to increase that eight percents or not surplus but reserve fund a little bit closer to 12 to 15%. We are reviewing kind of our how we're how we're collecting our revenue, our billing departments and in some some city staff members are reviewing theirs. We are completely looking at, you know, we formed a State and Federal Strategic Planning Committee with our different stakeholders, the lobbyists and other government entities to say hey, how can we seek more state and federal tax dollars to offset some of the charges and fees concerns with the city budget. So we are working around the clock. And we have started in independent financial audit and having conversations with an outside company to get a unopinionated look at it as well. So we've got some stuff we can tighten up on our end. But you know, there's some benefits, if at the federal level, gas prices have fallen the last three months alone, that saved three months of the gas budget from 2023. And those funds are rolling over. And, you know, we're making sure we have enough for gas. But you know, there have been some finally the supply chain is slowly starting to recover. So we will see some benefit there. But, you know, I look at the budget each day, and I'm in constant contact with the Comptroller and finding the best ways to optimize that city budget.
Speaker 1
Well, that was all I had. But I always like to end with any announcements you might have or kind of a final word from the mayor for this month.
Speaker 2
Yeah, no, see, I mean, you absolutely are drinking through a firehose, you know, one day, one second, you're working with the school corporation to revamp mayor's characters awards, and make sure you've got a close working relationship and supporting them to the highest extent. The next second, you're at Indiana State University, followed by an economic development meeting, and then you're helping someone fix their stormwater drain. It's funny, I'm in a suit and tie today, but just just earlier today, I was helping someone with a stormwater drain and that wastewater problem so staying flexible, but also staying open. I'm very open about communication and freely give out my cell phone number to folks as well as put my email all over the place and, you know, addressing constituent concerns, a huge part of this. We're revamping our city communication, we're going to hopefully start a kind of every other week newsletter here in February. So we're getting or in the nascent stages of that. We will finish up a mayor's podcast here soon. So looking forward to starting that just really communicating what the current government services are. I think there's a big gap on in the public of what we what we already are doing. So it's been a very, very fun transition. It's exciting. You never know what you're gonna get. But I love it. I love being able to serve the people of Terre Haute and I'm looking forward to the next four years.
Unknown Speaker
Thank you so much for doing this. What was hope we'll see in February.
Unknown Speaker
Absolutely. Thank you
