Moving forward

Last year had its rough spots, but Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman wants to emphasize the positive moving forward.
“You can always look at things negatively,” said Geesaman in his first-ever State of the City address to the Jay County Chamber of Commerce Tuesday at Jay County Hospital. “Or you can instead learn from your mistakes and just move forward.”
Noting successes and setbacks in his personal life and in his family when he was a child, Geesaman said, “What I learned from my father is … dust yourself off. … We just started all over. … We just have to make the best of it.”
Geesaman acknowledged that the city faces some significant challenges, including an environmental project at the former XPLEX site and $870,000 that must be repaid to the state because an industry failed to generate promised jobs.
“We’re working on solutions to these financial commitments,” said Geesaman, adding that he is working with new clerk-treasurer Mickey Pensinger and her deputy Tina Paxson to find the needed funds.
He also pledged to avoid similar situations in the future. “My administration will be a lot more cautious, more deliberate, more open and forthcoming,” he said.
Looking back at 2011, Geesaman said, “February, March, and April were painfully cruel to us,” referring to the flood and the deaths of longtime local pilot Dave Miller and Portland Fire Chief Matt Aker.
The mayor said discussions are already underway on how to prevent future flooding on the scale of that experienced in 2011. “We can’t have another one come through like last year,” he said.
The local economy took some hits in 2011, Geesaman noted, citing the planned closing of Patriot Paint and tsunami-related complications in production at FCC (Indiana).
But there were also some real bright spots, he said, citing the new Fort Recovery Industries plant, increased hiring by Tegrant (formerly Createc), multi-million dollar investments by FCC in the Portland plant, and an upswing in business at Portland Forge.“Three years ago, everyone was concerned about Portland Forge,” he said. “They’ve really turned their situation around.”
Geesaman also cited entrepreneurial activity such as MyFarms, AeroCat bicycles, and the DreamHaven project. “We want to continue to encourage that,” he said.
The mayor said he’ll be meeting with engineers Thursday on the Lafayette Street extension project. He expects work on that to begin late in 2012 with completion in 2013. Bidding on the northside sewer separation project planned as part of an agreed order with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management should occur within the next 30 days, with construction to follow in the spring.
Geesaman also said he’d like to see two eyesores — the former Sheller-Globe Plant No. 1 on South Bridge Street and the former Modern Bindery building — addressed in the year ahead. “I’d like to see those two eyesores cleaned up, and I think there’s a chance we’ll be able to do that.”
Prior to his remarks, Geesaman asked for a moment of silence for former clerk-treasurer Betty Miller, who died this week. He then introduced his department heads, adding, “The best thing you can do as mayor is surround yourself with competent and experienced department heads so you don’t have to micro-manage.”[[In-content Ad]]