Planning for future

Change is coming to Portland, said the mayor, and its residents can either get in front of it with a plan or be left scrambling in the future without one.

Mayor John Boggs’ first State of the City Address on Wednesday was one of reflection on the city’s successes in the past year with a look ahead to what he wants to accomplish as mayor.

“We have to fight against Portland becoming just a place to slow down between Richmond and Fort Wayne,” he said.

Boggs closed the roughly 30-minute address to a crowd of about 100 by outlining his specific goals for 2020 and beyond, chief among those revitalization efforts in the city.

The mayor said the city is in discussion with four developers about potentially building new houses and apartments in the area, which could improve population growth, among other things.

The city is “poised for a renaissance” because of the city’s main street organization, which is looking at several options to expand the shops and other businesses available in the community, Boggs said.

Indiana Department of Transportation and the city are also continuing to discuss planned U.S. 27 paving within the city limits, as well as potential lane and speed limit adjustments, Boggs said, though he added that nothing is set in stone as of yet.

Portland is preparing a plan for INDOT about what’s best for the city, something that will be discussed at future public meetings.

A new effort to start a student-city council with Jay County High School could lead to a higher level of political involvement for the city’s youth, who all too often “can’t wait” to leave the community after graduation, Boggs said. He hopes the council promotes a sense of pride in the community among its students and leads to them staying and contributing to the community.

Representatives from the city’s departments and the police and fire department each had an opportunity to highlight the positives from the previous year and explain what they’re working on in 2020, which made up a majority of the event.

Police chief Nathan Springer brought a majority of his force to the event both to explain what they do as well as highlight their accomplishments from the past year. He also showed off a new vest for the city’s officers that is designed to better protect those who wear it.

Fire chief Mike Weitzel said 2019 was a “year of change” for the department, which saw three veterans retire and two new full-time employees hired.

Tom Leonard of the Portland Street and Parks Department detailed ongoing efforts to add handicap-accessible seating to the city’s baseball diamonds and football field.

Brad Clayton, superintendent of Portland’s wastewater treatment plant, said the city saved $114,000 from 2018 to 2019 by transporting the city’s trash and recycling at the same time.

Clayton has been involved in recent discussions with the city about changing its long-term plan with Indiana Department of Environmental Management to get the wastewater treatment plant up to state regulation.

Boggs said the city is “behind” on the plan and is in danger of not meeting an upcoming March deadline with IDEM and could potentially face fines if an agreement is not made with the state. Portland’s Board of Works awarded a $27,400 contract Jones and Henry Engineers to draft and present a new long term plan to the state at its last meeting in January.