JAMESTOWN – Mayor Sam Teresi will deliver his annual State of the City address to the Jamestown City Council when it meets Monday night for it’s monthly voting session.
The mayor is no stranger to giving the state of the city, considering this will be the 17th address he’s given since first being elected in 1999.
Still, the challenges currently facing the city could be greater now than at any point in the mayor’s previous four terms in office. Those challenges include the continuing rise in illegal drug trafficking in the city and its impact on public safety, little-to-no growth in job creation and business development, and perhaps most critical of all – financial challenges for future budgets, due to the city reaching its constitutional taxing limit.
During a recent interview with WRFA earlier this month, Teresi said his address will not only focus on the past accomplishments of his administration, but also provide more details into the challenges facing the city and what will be done to address them.
“There’s always new things [to present] and I’m working with my staff doing the review of 2015, because that’s obviously part of what’s necessary when giving a report of the status of the community,” Teresi said. “We need to take stock of where we come from, where we are at, and also lay out goals and challenges for the coming years of where we might like to go.”
Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi
While not providing too many details of his outline for the 2016 state of the city, Teresi did say there is a possibility he will bring forward new proposals and action steps that can help position the city for future years, although he added that it may still be too early to provide specific details about some of those plans.
“We’re not going to float out publicly anything that’s not ready for prime-time, that’s not ready for discussion and is still behind the scenes in the crafting and the discussion stage,” Teresi said. “But we are communicating individually with city council members, keeping them abreast of all the things we are working on.”
Still, the mayor said that just like in previous years, he does plan to bring forward a couple of new ideas and proposals.
“There’s always something that we try to put out there, if for not other reason to get people to think, to get people to aspire and reach for new heights, and to challenge people,” The mayor said.
Monday’s state of the city will be delivered during the city council’s voting session, which begins at 7:30 p.m. on the second floor of city hall and is open to the public.
Leave a Reply