Written by Jon Pike
In the early part of each year, it’s traditional to hear from the president of the United States and the governor of Utah in their respective State of the Union and State of the State addresses. For the second time, I presented the State of the City address this year at the St. George Chamber of Commerce luncheon Feb. 3. The presentation was broadcast live on the Internet through the Community Education Channel and Southern Utah Live. It can also be viewed anytime by going to southernutahlive.com.
In this article, I’ll just highlight a few things from the presentation.
I’m pleased to report that the state of the City of St. George is strong! Financially, we are sound. The local economy continues to strengthen each year since the Great Recession. Some examples are the growing numbers of people flying into and out of our airport, the expansion of several local manufacturing and technology firms, the beginning of construction of a new elementary school on 100 South next to the Sunbowl to replace East Elementary, construction in progress of new student housing at Dixie State University, a new Lin’s Market under construction at Mall Drive and 3000 East, and the announcement of a $220 million expansion of Dixie Regional Medical Center to begin in May.
In 2015, the city completed (with RAP Tax funds) an additional 12 pickleball courts at the Little Valley sports complex just in time for two major tournaments that bring people from many states and even other countries to compete. We completed the remodeling and new construction of the Electric Theater Complex on Tabernacle Street, bringing more visual arts as well as artists, theater, dance, movies, and other events to the downtown area.
We also opened the historic Seegmiller Farm/Park in Little Valley, a unique place where we can go catch a glimpse of what life was like on farms in the area not so long ago. This year, we will add donated farm equipment to the park that will make it all the more real.
Construction of an all-abilities park at Tonaquint has been progressing nicely with the anticipation of opening in April. Monetary and in-kind donations have been coming in steadily and will allow us to fund all the features we hoped to provide in this special park.
We completed a number of public works projects such as Indian Hills Drive, three new traffic signals, and many road resurfacing and water line repairs and replacements.
Lastly, we presented our recently completed mission, vision and values statements that will guide us as city employees and elected officials going forward, along with our Five-year Action Plan that provides citizens with an overview of the major city projects and purchases that will occur between now and 2021. This document will be viewable at sgcity.org or at morehappeningahead.com.
We have many things to improve upon and tackle going forward, but I’m proud of what we have accomplished together as citizens and city employees in 2015!
