As we begin a new year, I think it is important to reflect on our past year as well project what we plan to accomplish in the new year. While the economy continued to be sluggish, Evans can rightfully celebrate several successes in infrastructure, public safety, parks, expansion of youth programs, long term strategic planning, partnerships, and technology. All of these successes are the result of striving to attain a primary goal; that of long term sustainability of our community.
One of the most significant accomplishments of 2011 and the culmination of over 3 years of hard work, research and planning was the successful formation of the Evans Fire Protection District. Approved overwhelmingly by the voting citizens of Evans, the district will provide long term, stable and sustainable funding of professional fire protection services in our City.
In the fall of 2012, Evans residents should expect to see the opening of a new charter school. The City of Evans, Union Colony Charter Schools and Weld County School District Six partnered to form a Kindergarten through 6th grade school. We are excited for the citizens of Evans and our neighboring communities to have another great opportunity to access quality education for their children.
With the support and encouragement of City Council our finance department undertook the huge task of taking control of collection of the City’s Sales Tax, a function previously performed by the State of Colorado. The result is a marked improvement in the accuracy of collection, a better relationship between the business owners in our city and a much faster collection of sales tax revenues. This process of transition, education and verification of information took most of 2011 and is now fully implemented. Initial figures show an increase of sales tax revenues that are consistent with expectations.
Parks and Recreation also saw some successes in 2011. For the third successive year, Evans was named “Playful City USA”. The youth sports program had record participation and middle school sport programs in basketball and volleyball were added to fill a void created for 7th grade students when Weld County School District ceased 7th grade sports. In 2011 Evans added 2 pocket parks to the Tuscany subdivision, continuing Evans’ practice of providing sufficient opportunities for all to play. One of the features we are most proud of in Renaissance Park is a shaded pavilion and an all-inclusive playground that serves the mobility impaired. No other park in the area has such a feature and we encourage all in the area to share this playground with us.
The latest of our many 2011 accomplishments is the completion of our new City website. We understand how important it is to always show our best features and our new website does just that. In today’s world, communication with our citizens is more important than ever and technology offers the opportunity to communicate better and faster than ever before. More and more of our citizens are looking to the internet for information and we can now offer a vast choice of information and services. It is our hope that you will take advantage of this new site and offer suggestions for even more improvement to meet your needs.
In closing, I would like to offer you, the citizens of Evans, my sincere thanks for the opportunity to serve as your Mayor. Working with your city council and city staff, many changes have been accomplished with many successes. Working through the economic downturn has been a significant challenge but the hard choices necessary to meet those challenges were made. With a lot of work and planning, the City of Evans’ financial condition has improved significantly and is currently on track to be totally free of general obligation debt within the next 18 months. Please feel free to contact me or any of your elected officials or city manager if you have questions or concerns. I look forward to providing more of these updates in the future.
Respectfully,
Lyle Achziger, Mayor
City of Evans
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