Easley City News, Fall & Winter 2009Mayor’s Message
Welcome to the latest edition the Easley City News. On behalf of the City we wish to welcome our new residents. I know that you will come to love Easley as much as I do. In a short period of time you will learn what many of us “lifers” already know; Easley is a friendly, safe and comfortable place to live, work, and play.
The City Council has enjoyed a busy summer and the next several months will continue to reflect the growing and active community Easley has become. First, City Council approved a new budget for the City of Easley, which avoided a property tax increase. Although the budget will continue to be very tight, it reflects the same belt-tightening efforts that have impacted every household and business in the current recession. Our residents and business community should not anticipate a reduction in City services during the next year. Another accomplishment this summer was City Council’s approval of a development agreement associated with the Easley Town Center. With this agreement we hope to see construction to begin on the Easley Town Center in the next few weeks and we anticipate the project to really take off in the next couple of months. I can’t say enough how grateful I am of the perseverance of City Council to see this project through. This project has been like none other I have ever been associated with. With all the hurdles and delays this project has seen to finally get it underway says a lot about the fortitude and determination of the City.
Another area the City focused on during the summer was the redevelopment of downtown. Last month the City began transforming the former Donnie’s Taxi site into a public green space / garden, and the former Murrell’s site has been demolished to make way of a public walkway. In addition, the City began implementing the recommendations of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan by installing a new playground unit at King’s Park. This park has been without park amenities for too long and I encourage all of you to visit the park with your families and spend a few minutes playing on the monkey bars and swinging on the new swing set.
The City is also working on several other projects and has applied for grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. A lot of you know this as the federal stimulus program that President Obama signed into law. While people can debate the merits of the federal stimulus program the result is still the same, the Act was signed into law and the City of Easley would be doing a disservice to its citizens if it did not aggressively go after these funds. Simply put, it is in the City’s best financial interest to use federal monies for City projects that otherwise would need to be funded by City taxpayers if not for the stimulus program. In fact the City has already benefited from the federal stimulus program; the aforementioned Easley Town Center received $6,000,000 in federal stimulus funding that had these monies not been available could have seriously jeopardized the project.
In closing, I want to convey my sense of optimism for the City of Easley’s future. While the last year has been a challenge for a lot our neighbors, and local businesses I believe in the City of Easley and I know that the City’s best days lie ahead. Let us continue to keep our chins up and our heads held high.
CLICK HERE to download and read the entire Easley City News, Fall & Winter 2009
