Mayor Seitz is a happy man

One thing you could take from Mayor Terry Seitz’ 100 Days Address is he is having a great time.

Throughout the 45 minute rundown of his first 100 days in office he accentuated the fact that Mayor Bill Schmitt had left him a city in good condition with a very capable staff, but Seitz has always been about improvement. During his run for office he continually pursued the objective that good was no longer good enough; he wants Jasper to be better.

At the beginning of the address Mayor Seitz pulled out a boardgame, a City of Jasper Monopoly-style game and he used the playing pieces, cards and play money to accentuate each part of the success of Jasper.

He explained the most important part of any game is the players and for Jasper this is the people. “Jasper has the finest citizens of any community I’ve ever seen,” Seitz said. “We work hard. We play hard. I struggle to point out directly what makes us different though I am convinced there is a collective desire to perform at a high level.”

In regards to the city and the caliber of its employees, Seitz joked he was awake at 2:30 in the morning the first day, but he held back and didn’t make it in until 5:15 that morning. “I was the third one there.”

He pulled out a stack of money from the board game and pointed out the city has a budget shortfall of $221,000 from the constitutionally mandated Property Tax Cap this year. The city is working around the budgetary shortfall. Recently the City Council approved the purchase of a new vehicle for the engineering department. Instead of purchasing a vehicle they decided to rearrange the vehicles the city already has, now several department heads and the mayor are not using take-home vehicles and a pool of vehicles has been created. “I only live two minutes away from the office,” He said, “I don’t need a take-home vehicle.”

The city also has $2.6 million in a rainy day fund. “How do you define a rainy day,” He asked. “Let’s define how we use those funds instead of just letting them sit there and earn interest.”

Using the property cards, Seitz pointed out the city utilities has the capacity to support continued growth in the city. He mentioned the lease with Jasper Clean Energy and the future of the power plant. “I have seen miscanthus, it didn’t kill me, it is okay. It is a very unique thing. Jasper has had some foresight in this and sometimes it’s uncomfortable to be first.”

The timeline for the conversion of the power plant to the hybrid biomass power plant is posted on the city’s website. At this time the power plant is idle and on standby if needed. The planned conversion will be approximately 80% natural gas and 20% miscanthus; before becoming a hybrid power plant it will be converted to a gas turbine power plant. Under ideal circumstances this will be done by 2015. The next step is the conversion to burn miscanthus and that is not expected to be done until 2018 or 2019. In the near future a large natural gas pipeline will be built to supply the plant.

Seitz went on to talk about the communications infrastructure of the city and the need to update to fiber optics for the expanding technology base of the area. This is seen as a necessary improvement for the city’s continued growth.

The mayor then spoke of the quality of life in Jasper. “We have an extraordinary Parks Department,” he stated. “It’s the most diverse department in this city.”

The mayor complimented the many facets of the Parks Department, the Mill, the Spirit of Jasper, the parks, the golf courses. He announced Parks Director Ken Buck has been named the Alumnus of the Year by the Indiana State University Park and Recreation program.

He also took this moment to point out the Strassenfest Committee will be sponsoring fireworks for the Fourth of July for the first time. The city has also added a half marathon this year for Labor Day weekend and the goal of the organizers is to have a 1000 participants. On top of all of these great events and facilities the city has the best sandwich in Indiana; the Schnitzelbank Bratzel, winner of the Super 46.

The Mayor announced an upcoming series of chats between the city and the public. The preliminary plan is to have three chats over the next few weeks. The chats will include department heads from the Street, Utilities, Parks, Arts, Police, and Fire Departments.

The mayor is concerned about a few facts. According to the Bureau of Labor, Dubois County has lost 2500 net jobs between 1990 and 2010. Additionally the county has lost over 1000 people between the ages of 25 and 44 between 2000 and 2009. “That’s like taking a knife and cutting out your gut.” Seitz said. “The critical fact I found during my campaign from talking to 1000’s of citizens is Jasper has become complacent.”

He stated he thinks about that fact every day and wants to change that viewpoint. “The decisions I’ve made in my first 100 days are based on that criteria. I believe we need to harness all available resources in a strategic plan for this city.”

The mayor has worked to develop the leadership of the city and some have asked what he sees is wrong with the leadership of the city. “Very little,” he said. “I want to equip our department heads with all the tools at their disposal to become the best.”

In the same way Seitz wants to tap the unclaimed potential in the city. “Unlike the city of Jasper board game, where there is only one winner, I desire to have as many people as possible to win,” he said. “I only have 1400 days to do so.”

At the end of his presentation Mayor Seitz announced he had become engaged to his long time friend, Deena Lewis on Easter Sunday. The two have known each other professionally for many years and have developed a close relationship over the period of time since they both lost their spouses. Seitz said both families are accepting of the upcoming marriage. This, in addition to being the head of the city he loves, is making Terry Seitz a happy man.

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