City of Jasper by the numbers
Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide gave his 2022 State of the City address during Wednesday’s Common Council meeting.
He took the council through the city’s accomplishments and numbers for 2021 highlighting a portion of the work completed annually.
He began by pointing out the city’s financial health. The city has an unencumbered balance of $8,756,534.76 in the general fund; more than $2 million in its rainy day fund; $4,139,164.80 in the Park and Recreation fund; $1.175 in American Rescue Plan Act funds with another $1.175 expected this summer; and $5,082,074.36 in economic development income tax funds.
The mayor said he receives questions about how the city can take on the number of projects it has in the works without running out of money. “The council does a good job with budgeting,” Vonderheide said. “We’ve got good healthy balances and there is money in there to move forward with these projects.”
Vonderheide also highlighted the investments being made by local businesses and builders. Through the Heart of Jasper Facade Grant Program, $50,000 in matching grants were distributed to property owners completing upgrades to the facades of the downtown buildings in 2021. This has translated to several buildings being updated adding to the aesthetics of the center of the city.
In addition to these updates, the mayor explained that there has been nearly $86 million invested in building permits in 2021. Included in the 169 building permits issued in 2021 were 38 for new single-family residences and 44 for multi-family units. “That is important because … we are trying to close the gap in housing,” Vonderheide said referring to housing needs assessments that have been completed through Dubois Strong.
The city also made updates in the utility departments. The business office now accepts credit card payments. A project to update utility meters with remote monitoring will allow the utility to detect leaks faster and give utility customers instant access to usage information.
Back to the numbers, the city treated 33 million gallons of wastewater; applied 429 tons of biosolids to local farmland; and 564 billion gallons of water processed.
In regards to safety and security, the Jasper Police Department added a new K-9 officer, the bloodhound, Makya. Officers responded to 14,746 calls for service and conducted 3,052 extra patrols. Additionally, the city has added 37 Keep Watch members — Keep Watch is a voluntary program allowing the city to use video footage from private cameras to potentially solve a crime. “The more people that sign up, the more secure the city is so I encourage people to sign up for that,” Vonderheid said.
The Jasper Volunteer Fire Department has a new ladder truck on order that is expected to be delivered in the spring. In 2021, volunteer firefighters responded to 498 calls — 316 for medical services and 88 for false alarms. They responded to two house fires.
The Jasper Fire Chief is also the code enforcement officer, and he performed 85 site visits for code violations in 2021.
The Park and Recreation Department reported the Spirit of Jasper ran 21 trips with 1,178 riders; there were 14,132 swimmers at the Municipal Swimming Pool during the 2021 season; and 23,766 rounds played at Buffalo Trace.
The added new pickleball courts at Bohnert park for $111,00, resurfaced the Church Avenue Tennis Courts for $55,000, accepted the donation of the Alexander School House from ROJAC; upgraded the Jaycee Park playground; and had more than 11,000 attendees to activities at the Older Americans Center.
After opening the Thyen-Clark Cultural Center in January of 2021, there were 15,597 visits to exhibits. According to Vonderheide, this equates to the total number of visits at the Jasper Arts Center over the previous 11 years.
Additionally, there were 51 pieces of art sold which brings some money into the department. They also hosted 196 workshops, 403 activities, 41 meetings, 16 public events and 18 exhibits.
The street department installed a crosswalk on Portersville Road and Tealwood Drive to enable safe crossings for students and residents. The completed sidewalk projects along Newton Street. The mayor said he almost always sees individuals using those sidewalks when he drives on Newton Street. “I am glad to get them off the road,” he said.
The street department collects recycling. About 45 percent of the residents take part in the city’s recycling program and 233 tons of recyclables were collected. The mayor said that he has heard that some people believe the city takes some of the recyclables to a landfill rather than to proper recycling operations. “The City of Jasper does not do that. We have a market for everything we pick up,” Vonderheide said.
He emphasized that the future success of the recycling program is based on participation from the city’s residents.
The street department also collected 2,294 tons of trash, 1,100 bulk items, 1,300 loads of rubbish, 829 tons of leaves and 269 tons of street sweepings. They also collected 90 stray dogs; 54 of which occurred after hours.
The Jasper Mayor’s Youth Council grew to 21 students in 2021. “When we started this, we only had eight the first year,” Vonderheide said. These students are learning about city government, local government and what steps it takes to get a project done.”
A few other accomplishments Mayor Vonderheide highlighted included the city making all of its ordinances available to the public online through Municode.; the City Clerk’s office had another clean audit of its books by the state; the Dove House Women’s Recovery Home project is underway at the former Heidorn property; and the plans for the downtown revitalization and infrastructure project are set to be put out for bidding by the end of the month and an interlocal agreement has been approved with the county to take part in the project.
“We have a lot on our plate and we are looking forward to it,” Vonderheide said in closing. “This gives you a little taste of what 2021 was like.”
The council also took the following actions:
- Elected Kevin Manly president pro tempe to serve in the stead of Mayor Dean Vonderheide if he is unavailable to preside over the council meetings.
- Approved an ordinance adding additional fees for municipal ordinance violations to cover the costs associated with the use of equipment when the city remediates violations. The also added a trash removal rate of $47.50 which is close to the actual cost to the city. They increased the labor rated by $5 as well. According to City Street Department Supervisor Jeff Theising, they send letters to residents with an estimate on the cleanup costs for a property in violation of the ordinance prior to taking action to allow the property owner to take care of the violation on their own.
