(Talk of the Town photos by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Columbia City Mayor Jim Fleck, above at left, addresses an assembled group of local business and community leaders, city employees, government officials and others during the State of the City address Friday afternoon at the Columbia City Chamber of Commerce's monthly business briefing luncheon at Parkview Whitley Hospital. Below, groups talk following the State of the City address. The luncheon was sponsored by Miller's Merry Manor.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
In a community that is not only seeking, but finding a healthy outlook for the future, Friday’s State of the City meeting confirmed the news many local residents were hoping for: we’re growing.
Mayor Jim Fleck presented his State of the City address Friday during the Columbia City Chamber of Commerce’s monthly business briefing luncheon at Parkview Whitley Hospital. The well-attended event brought together various representatives of the community’s non-profits, elected officials, local leaders and an especially large number of city employees. Mayor Fleck recognized each of the city employees in attendance for their various contributions to making the community great.
“The State of the City is we’re in sound shape,” Fleck said emphatically. 
Fleck noted that Columbia City has been seeing between 3-4% growth per year, which he described as “a very healthy growth – one that we can all service and pay for.” The population is now 8,200, up from a previous census report of 7,077.
According to Fleck, the most recent statistics show local average household income is approximately $49,000 which is right at the state average. “We aren’t considered a poor county,” Fleck said. He said the majority of the county’s residents fall into the 30-40 age range which is a very healthy indicator for the community’s growth into the future. Fleck also commended the level of healthcare provided in our community.
“In 2007, over $103 million was invested in industrial and commercial growth,” Fleck said of the county. “We consider the county as part of our community,” he added.
Within the city, Fleck said $13.7 million had been invested in local business during the past year – an amount consistent with previous years and, he said, yet another indicator that Columbia City is growing as a community, within the business sector and in terms of economic development. 
An example of recent growth was the number of building permits issued in 2007. Fleck said at a time when there is a nationwide building slump, 235 building permits were issued this year. That is 22 permits more than were issued the previous year.
“What’s this doom and gloom stuff about we’re moving toward a recession,” Fleck asked, “when we’re building houses…actually more?”
Fleck credits the community’s ability to diversify as a key reason we’re able to ride out what might otherwise be a rocky economy.
Locally, builders are keeping busy with renovations as well, Fleck said, adding that the number of building location permits for remodeling were up in 2007 as well. “We’ve continued to have a positive gain,” he said.
Unemployment is currently at 4.4%, but Fleck said the level of unemployed workers in the community has remained steadily between 4-4.4% for the past four years – a level below the state average.
Fleck said the tax rate has been decreased by 86 cents. “You may pay more, but that has nothing to do with what we did,” he said. “We were able to save you money.” Fleck said his administration has been able to spend 16% less in services that was spent four years ago. Fleck credited City Council for their efforts in what he described as a tradition of keeping expenses low.
Fleck briefly spoke of two issues that continue to be an area of focus – downtown streetscapes and constricted parking. Several projects have been initiated to address enhanced signage and improve the overall look of the historic downtown area.
“We’re going to assist the hospital in their building project,” Fleck said of Parkview Whitley Hospital’s efforts to build a new, state of the art hospital facility near US 30 and State Road 205. Fleck said the city hopes to be as helpful and accommodating as possible in an effort to bring electrification and access to the vast piece of property slated for the health complex.
“We’ll assist in any way we can to improve healthcare over the next four years,” he said.
Of the city’s eight park locations, including the Little Turtle Woods site along State Road 205, Fleck shared park director Mark Green’s goals of making all sites handicap accessible so that all members of the community might enjoy them.
At Fleck’s request, Green shared a brief update on the Splashpad project, the recreational water feature that will be located in Morsches Park. The site will be completely handicap accessible, but Green said that many of the parks’ bathroom and playground areas are not easily accessible at this time. His goal in the next few years is to make all areas easily accessed.
“The Splashpad is a step toward that,” said Green.
As a brief topic of discussion, Fleck spoke of the proposed community center facility that might one day be built at Little Turtle Woods, saying an enhanced entrance point to the city would be an exciting possibility. “We would highlight Little Turtle (at that location) and that’s not something we’ve ever done,” he said.
Fleck said the $3.5 million dollar rate increase on utilities experienced locally was the result of legislation that occurred many years ago. “The saving activity for our community…will be economic development,” he said. In the past year, the average rate of pay for new jobs in the community was $20 per hour. More industry and better paying jobs, he believes, will offset the higher expenses we will have to face. Cooperative efforts between city and county government are key he said, saying economic development is “one area where we have to work together or we all suffer.”
Regarding economic development, specifically finding viable business prospects to fill the many vacant holes in our local commerce, Fleck alluded to a recent interest by someone in possibly utilizing the former Weatherhead location. “There is activity going on,” Fleck said, without giving much greater indication about who or what might be investigating that and other vacant business sites in the community.
“Along with the good news is other new,” Fleck said in a more somber tone.
Specifically, Fleck is concerned about House Bill 1001.
“This first step in the continued revision of local government – disguised as property tax relief – will effect every one of you,” Fleck said as he looked around the room. “This is bad legislation.”
“Without a stable, productive income flow,” he said, “we wouldn’t know our income or our ability to pay back.”
While local government tends to be fiscally conservative, Fleck is concerned that if local government is revised to the extent House Bill 1001 would dictate, the consequences could be detrimental to our local quality of life.
In the past few years, belt-tightening has meant Columbia City has been able to provide more services at the same cost. Local officials have managed to do more while spending less, effectively – but this could change.
“We will take a hit of $404,000 in 2009,” he said of the bill’s proposed impact on the local budget. A loss at that level not only means that we might have to do without certain services – like leaf pickup or clean streets – that we’ve come to expect, but that jobs will be negatively impacted as well.
“Who do we lay off,” Fleck asked as he looked into the faces of those city employees in attendance, representing areas of local government we’ve come to rely on – city office employees, street department personnel and city police. “We get to choose…do we want potholes fixed or leaves picked up,” he said as he continued highlighting the various jobs each employee performs that are a very part of the fabric of the community – none of which can be easily disregarded.
“This is serious stuff,” he said. “We’re all in this together.”
As the address drew to a close, many attendees stayed after, discussing the State of the City amongst themselves – likely wondering how the next few years will play out.
“Right now, we’re in great financial shape, healthy as a community with good people and programs,” Fleck said proudly of Columbia City.
Athena Toskos Metzger, a seven-year resident of Whitley County, will become a regular contributing writer this week, covering several areas of interest to her -- particularly related to physical fitness, sports and wellness. Metzger also has a passion for several local organizations and hopes to write about them as well.
An entertainer with Sweetcakes clowns, below, delighted the audience at the annual Spay-ghetti Dinner for the Whitley County Humane Society Wednesday evening in Columbia City.
Brightly colored lights hit the stage, illuminating the stars of the evening, a group of musically inclined members of First Church of God in Columbia City. Behind them, a large screen showed the words of the songs so that the audience might sing along. In the audience, hands reach toward the sky and voices sang along. 
spring break there working on construction and schooling projects, according to More.
