Mayor Kezer's inaugural address

Hello and good evening. It is an honor to stand here once again as your mayor. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to continue to serve this great community.

I would like to start by recognizing our special guests for tonight's inauguration ceremony. They include our congressman, John Tierney; our state senator, Stephen Baddour; and our state representative, Michael Costello; all of whom have been great partners with us to achieve many of the successes we have enjoyed.

I welcome tonight Mayor Donna Holaday of Newburyport, and I look forward to two more years of working together for the benefit of both our communities.

Also to former mayor, senator and state representative Nick Costello and former mayor David Hildt, welcome.

I wish to recognize the members of the Municipal Council, School Committee, Planning Board, Library Trustees and Housing Authority, who are with me on the stage tonight. Thank you for your commitment to our community.

I especially want to recognize my wife, Claire, and little Thatcher, whom without their support, I would not be standing here tonight. Thank you also to my relatives, friends and supporters who are here tonight.

Finally, I wish to recognize the citizens of Amesbury who are here with us tonight and for those watching on our local Amesbury Community Television channels.

Challenges

As we embark on another two-year journey, it is fitting to take a quick look at the recent challenges we have faced and our successes in meeting those challenges as a community.

Except for those that lived through the Great Depression, the past two years have been the most economically challenging two years in all of our lifetime. We witnessed significant losses in local, state and federal revenues as the economy collapsed and at the same time saw an increase in demand for the services that local government provides.

Within Massachusetts, the economic decline put tremendous pressure on municipal budgets and municipal services, forcing many communities to use their reserves and increase property taxes to their levy limits in order to maintain the level of services the citizens expected from their community.

However in Amesbury, despite the same economic challenges, we saw our reserves grow, our unused levy capacity increase and our stabilization funds maintained.

Amesbury has emerged from this economic storm financially stronger than it was before.

This success in meeting the serious financial challenges puts Amesbury's balance sheet in a stronger financial position, resulting in a very favorable report from Standard and Poor's, changing our bond status from A Stable to A Positive.

According to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation's annual report, 75 percent of all Massachusetts communities are at their maximum levy capacity. Amesbury is one of the 25 percent of communities that has pulled itself away from the edge of that cliff by no longer taxing at the levy limit.

What all of this means is that we are making the right financial decisions to provide the municipal services our residents expect and in a sustainable way.

One of our other big challenges is our aging infrastructure. We have roads, sidewalks, drainage, water and wastewater pipes and many of our municipal buildings that are showing signs of wear and tear and, in some cases, failure. It is not wise to wait for this infrastructure to fail and then fix it under emergency conditions. It's much more expensive that way. Deferred maintenance used to be a hypothetical problem that would bite us someday in the future. After decades of deferred maintenance, the imminent failure of our infrastructure is real and needs to be addressed now.

Some of the city's bigger cost-drivers are because of state or federal requirements. The reason municipal health care costs rose faster than the state or private health care plans was due to state laws hampering local government's ability to make timely changes to health plans. However, thanks to the efforts of the Legislature and the governor, we saw the state change the law this summer giving local governments much more control over changing health plans that will produce significant cost savings. I thank Sen. Baddour and Rep. Costello for their support and leadership on this issue.

Another challenge is meeting the awesome responsibility of providing a quality education for our children despite the economic and financial challenges that we face. No doubt our school system is straining under the general requirements for educating our children, specifically the requirements for meeting the No Child Left Behind law while we have had to level-fund our education budgets for several years.

In addition, the demand on special education is expected to increase dramatically over the next several years as more students are coming into our system with increasing needs. We provide about 55,000 hours of special education services a year with the expectation that it will grow significantly over the next few years. We need to build the capacity to meet that growing challenge.

Progress in meeting the challenges

These are only a few of the significant challenges we must deal with. Despite these challenges, we have successes to be proud of. As a community, we have not sat idly by and complained about our situation. Many in this community have maintained a positive attitude, rolled up their shirtsleeves and plugged away for a better Amesbury.

I applaud the parents who advocate for their children's education and participate directly through parent groups and volunteering with projects in the schools. It's a personal investment that makes a difference for all children in Amesbury.

I applaud the residents who have organized and are fundraising to improve our parks. It is a wonderful grassroots effort that just by doing what they are doing makes us a better community.

I applaud the efforts of the individual business owners and business leaders in our community who have worked hard to survive the economic downturn and to maintain their enthusiasm for Amesbury. Our local banks, restaurants, retail shops, insurance businesses, local manufacturing companies and many others have shown great leadership for our community. The Amesbury Chamber has been a great partner in our efforts to sustain and grow the commercial and industrial base of Amesbury.

I applaud the efforts of the city's employees as Amesbury is the first municipality in Massachusetts to participate in Well Power, a three-year program that's designed to help city employees gain a better understanding of navigating the health care system, lead healthier lives and better manage health care costs. Already after only a year of the program, the city has seen a decline of 14 percent in emergency room visits, an indication of how better education and health awareness by employees is resulting in more health care cost control.

I applaud the work of the Municipal Council over the past two years as we worked as partners, not combatants, to address Amesbury's needs and having the fiscal discipline to meet the balance of delivering municipal services and controlling the cost of doing so. I thank in particular the services of Mary Chatigny and Stephen Dunford as they leave the council and welcome and look forward to working with our new members, Donna McClure and Christian Scorzoni as they take on the duties of councilors.

We are making significant investment in the future of Amesbury.

The construction of the Costello transportation building and senior center is a visible sign of improvement and will provide the city with a modern, accessibility compliant and energy-efficient building at a bargain price. The city's share of the cost is $1.5 million for the interior build-out and a nominal lease that will cover the maintenance and cleaning costs. In exchange, the city will have long-term use of nearly 10,000 square feet of space for senior activities, municipal offices and public meetings and events. I would like to thank Cong. Tierney for his leadership and efforts at the federal level in obtaining the funding necessary to make this project a reality.

We have made repairs and reopened the parking spaces on the Water Street parking garage. More repairs will be done in the spring to extend the life of the parking garage to meet the critical parking needs of our downtown.

After years of negotiating with FEMA, the Upper Millyard walls to the Powow River were finally repaired using federal funding after severe damage from the Mother's Day Flood in 2006. Rather than restacking the former slabs, new granite blocks were placed along the river, creating an improved look and much more robust wall for future storms.

The new regional Emergency 911 dispatch center is under construction in Middleton. This new facility and the regionalization of the 911 dispatch functions for six Essex County communities are expected to come on line the first half of 2013. With this new operation, Amesbury is expected to save significantly on its dispatch operations while giving the community enhanced capabilities. Though regional dispatch operations are commonplace around the country, this is one of the first being set up in Massachusetts.

The Amesbury Public Library saw a record number of residents utilizing their services this year. The Amesbury Room, designed to showcase the local history collection, was created on the newly renovated main floor. On the lower level, a Teen Lounge was added and the expansion of collections continued. Visitors to the library's website, or the online branch of the library, increased 21 percent over last year, due in part to the many new features such as language learning programs and downloadable music and books. The Board of Library Trustees this year approved an exciting, ambitious five-year strategic plan outlining goals for services, IT improvements and the expansion of services. It is clear Amesbury residents are recognizing its library as a place for social connections and lifelong learning.

The Police Department achieved its fourth accreditation this past year, a testament to its highly efficient operations and the professionalism of its staff.

The Fire Department has maintained its operations despite its less than ideal living conditions and has been able to generate nearly $800,000 in ambulance revenue that helps offset the cost of maintaining fire protection services.

The Department of Public Works is expected to start producing water soon with the new water treatment facility that will make Amesbury compliant with meeting drinking water regulations for the next 20 years. Also, I have to give special mention of the DPW crews for meeting the incredible challenge of snow operations during last year's record snowfall. Let's hope we don't have to repeat that again this year.

These are but some of the recent successes we have achieved.

Goals for 2012

Let me outline a few of the biggest goals we need to achieve over the next year.

We need to increase investment in our infrastructure

Due to the improved financial picture and our cost-control efforts on the city's operations, we are now able to increase our investment in public infrastructure.

It is my plan to file with the City Council a request to add another $200,000 from free cash to the DPW budget in order to increase the number of roads and sidewalks for repair this spring.

Moving Amesbury's education system into the information age

We need to increase the effort to move Amesbury's education system into the forefront of the information age by utilizing technology as a tool to better educate and prepare our children for their information rich and complex world. Adapting and using technology in a way that is already being done throughout our state and across the country, enhances the education experience of our children, gives teachers more critical access to current knowledge and instructional methods and makes the material more relevant and dynamic. As an example, turning textbooks into iPads not only makes the education process more powerful, that after the initial investment has been proven to lower the cost of providing education. I look forward to working with the School Committee, Superintendent Michele Robinson and the entire school staff to make this effort a reality.

Invest in Lower Millyard revitalization

The revitalization of the Lower Millyard will be the most important economic development investment for Amesbury since the investment and revitalization of the Upper Millyard over ten years ago.

With this public investment it is expected that there will in return be private investment and economic growth on the order of $50 to $90 million. With this amount of economic activity, it would bring in $900,000 to $1.5 million of new growth revenue that will exceed the cost of the debt service on the city's investment and bring tax relief to the residents of Amesbury.

The opportune time to make capital investment, which is paid typically over a twenty year period, is when borrowing costs are low and contractors are hungry for work to bring in competitive pricing. Now is that time before the economy starts to make a strong come back and prices for borrowing and construction start to increase.

Get Amesbury Elementary School project on the state funding list

The Amesbury Elementary School is the last of the four school buildings to be renovated or reconstructed. Amesbury residents have stepped up to the plate over the past several years to ensure we have the educational facilities to meet our education needs. We are just now starting the process to get AES listed with the Massachusetts School Building Assistance program. We have had several meetings with our legislators, who are helping us to navigate the process and with Treasurer Steve Grossman's office to determine our eligibility.

By getting this project on the School Building Assistance program list, the state will help pay a major portion of the project costs. It is our goal to get this project funded but to time the debt service payments to come due only after the Middle School project debt service expires in about six years. That will allow us to avoid a significant increase in our overall debt service schedule.

Maintaining financial discipline

It is our hope and expectations that the worst of the economic downturn is behind us and that our revenue sources for municipal government have stabilized. Along with that should come an increase in new growth with such developments as the hotel on Elm Street, the Lower Millyard revitalization and development of the Golden Triangle. As difficult as it is saying no to folks when we are making cuts during a downturn, it is even more challenging to say no during an economic upturn to prevent making financial commitments that cannot be sustained. Yes, we need to make additional investments in critical areas of municipal government such as infrastructure, education and other core services. However, tax relief must be one of the top investments we make as a benefit from the improvement of the economy.

Branding of Amesbury

As we all know, there was a name change of our community from the City Known as the Town of Amesbury, to simply the City of Amesbury. The updated Charter was signed by the Governor on December 21st and will take effect 90 days after, on March 20th. This will more clearly define who we are as a community. We have been operating as a city since 1996 and now we will refer to ourselves as a city in name also.

This change also gives us an opportunity to reflect on who we are and define how we should be perceived by the rest of the world. I believe we have much to be proud of, both our past as a great industrial community and our future for the decisions and progress we are making now as a community.

Therefore, I will initiate a community-involved effort to establish a Brand Amesbury Initiative. It is time that we share with others what is great about our community and allow that effort to leverage our ability to attract good companies and good jobs, to keep and grow the industries we have and to highlight what's positive. Let's not let the anonymous blogospheres define who we are but rather have a transparent, cooperative and factual discussion about what is positive about Amesbury.

I truly believe that there is plenty to talk about what is good about Amesbury and that is why I am very thankful for the honor you have bestowed upon me as your Mayor. Thank you, and to all of you, Godspeed in 2012.

Mayor Thatcher W. Kezer III

January 2, 2012

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