Battle Ground Mayor Michael Ciraulo delivered an optimistic State of the City speech Wednesday night, highlighting strides in growth and development in 2009 and his hopes for the county’s second largest city in 2010.
In his 45-minute speech, Ciraulo focused on the addition of new businesses, creation of new jobs and the dedication of city residents and employees during a tough 2009. But he also acknowledged the recent struggles he and the city council have faced.
“It is my sincere hope that we can work together as a team in 2010 to help Battle Ground continue to prosper within the county and be a place that our citizens are proud to call home,” he said.
An audience of about 300 people, including elected officials from neighboring cities and the county, local residents and business owners, and current city employees, filled the Battle Ground Community Center for the event.
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Battle Ground, like the rest of the county and country, faced tough times in 2009 but fared better than most cities, Ciraulo said. Still, he described the city’s current financial situation as “fragile.”
“We have faced diminishing revenues, along with a myriad of unfunded mandates, such as storm water regulations, that have forced the city to make some difficult decisions,” Ciraulo said.
The city council and staff went through the budget with a fine-tooth comb and found nonessential services and programs to cut, such as the National Night Out and temporary parks maintenance staff, Ciraulo said. The city has also cut back on line striping and maintenance on city roads and instituted a hiring freeze, he said.
“Staff has stepped up and continued to do more with less,” he said. “But we are rapidly approaching the point where we may be forced to do less with less.”
Slowed growth last year shattered the city’s assumptions about continued rapid growth, Ciraulo said. Still, growth did continue in 2009, but it shifted from primarily residential growth to a mixture of retail, commercial, industrial and residential growth.
In 2009, numerous restaurants and other businesses located in the city, three current businesses underwent major remodeling projects and three medical clinics opened in the area. The mayor said Battle Ground businesses also added 156 new jobs — positive news that prompted applause from the audience.
“This is a beacon of light to the rest of Clark County, which is now facing the state’s highest unemployment rate at over 14 percent,” Ciraulo said.
Residential development hit a low in 2008 but rebounded slightly in 2009, with a shift from single-family homes to multifamily developments, a trend Ciraulo expects to continue. The city has 316 pending multifamily residential units that may be developed this year. This city also continued annexations in 2008 and 2009, annexing about 700 acres of commercial, industrial and residential land.
Ciraulo also issued a challenge to elected officials in neighboring cities and the county. The city of Battle Ground, and most other cities, believe the county should only allow growth to occur in the cities, not the urban growth areas, Ciraulo said. If the county continues to allow growth outside of existing city limits, Ciraulo said he challenges representatives of those cities and the county to revisit the issue of revenue sharing. He also challenged state officials to reconsider unfunded mandates, which have the potential to shut down development.
“The bottom line is that we seek greater control of our own destiny,” he said.
Last year, Ciraulo challenged community members to step up and volunteer. More than 200 people responded in October for the city’s first Battle Ground Cares event. The volunteers planted trees and plants throughout town, removed invasive blackberry bushes, collected food for the food bank, picked up litter and held a blood drive.
Ciraulo challenged residents of the 17,000-person city to continue to give and to define 2010 by the hearts of the city’s residents.
“Many in our community are hurting,” he said. “It is time for all of us to give until it hurts to lessen the pain for our fellow citizens,” he said.
