Municipal Musings

Mayors gather for E-REPโ€™s annual regional roundtable

Housing needs, enhanced quality of life, and infrastructure plans headlined this yearโ€™s Lunch with the Mayorโ€™s program presented by the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership on July 26 at Old National Events Plaza.

Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry made her Lunch with the Mayorโ€™s debut alongside Princeton, Indiana, Mayor Greg Wright; Henderson, Kentucky, Mayor Brad Staton; and Mount Vernon, Indiana, Mayor Steve Loehr.

Boonville, Indiana, Mayor Charlie Wyatt, who was scheduled to appear, was absent due to โ€œunforeseen circumstances,โ€ Talent EVV Director Tyler Stock said during introductions, leaving questions about the EDGE of the Lakes developmentย unanswered.

In a discussion moderated by Channel 14 WFIE-TV anchor Randy Moore, the assembled mayors outlined improvement projects, municipal goals, and the importance of regional collaboration.

โ€œI think we have to keep focused on these strong relationships that have already been built with our neighbors,โ€ Terry said. โ€œThese relationships are critical, I think, to everything that we do.โ€

Housing

Evansvilleโ€™s affordable housing trust fund has gotten a boost from an additional $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act interest, which Terry said will aid home repairs as well as new development. Thatโ€™s in addition to a $3 million investment in local nonprofit housing projects.

Loehr spoke candidly of Mount Vernonโ€™s longtime focus on job creation causing it to โ€œkind of miss the boat on keeping the housing market home.โ€ The Posey County seat now is reconnecting with homebuilders and investors to refire the housing market.

To rejuvenate Hendersonโ€™s housing market, officials eyed a crucial point of the cost of home ownership. โ€œOur city property tax rate was too high about 10 years ago, so we’ve been actively working to decrease it because numerically we want to encourage people to come and move to Henderson,โ€ Staton said. โ€œToday, our city property tax rate is lower than it was nearly 20 years ago.โ€

Quality of Place

The mayors echoed Terry in discussing the need for safe neighborhoods, cultural amenities, and plenty of green spaces and recreation options to make their cities attractive both to potential and current residents.

Wright singled out YMCA of Southwestern Indiana President and CEO Johnathan Pope for praise, championing the nonprofitโ€™s investment, alongside Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana, in a Downtown Princeton campus. โ€œThe impact theyโ€™re going to make in our city, as far as the quality of place aspect, is immeasurable,โ€ Wright said.

Staton touted Henderonโ€™s bustling Downtown โ€“ complete with retail merchants and restaurants, plus a new distillery breaking ground this fall โ€“ as a boon to the city. โ€œThere are a lot of reasons for people in Evansville to come join us in Henderson and celebrate life together,โ€ he said.

Infrastructure

Terry joked that the top two questions her office receives are โ€œWhen are you going to fix the roads?โ€ and โ€œWhy is there so much construction?โ€

โ€œIt is an orange barrel season, and and that means progress is happening,โ€ she said.

Among Evansville officials priorities are replacing Evansville Water and Sewer Utilityโ€™s 125-year-old water treatment plant and throwing support behind an ambitious planย  to transform the cityโ€™s Downtown river shoreline into a retail, culinary, and recreation destination.

โ€œWe want to continue to see that process move forward, because I think it’s going to truly create a destination for our city and really transform the city,โ€ Terry said.

Work on the Interstate 69 Ohio River Crossingย also was a major topic for the mayors of Evansville and Henderson. Staton says Section 1, which will link the Kentucky side of a newly construction bridge to I-69 south of Henderson, will generate about 200 acres of retail space and improve connectivity to a new 300-home development in the vicinity.

The groundbreaking for the Indiana bridge approach, known as Section 3, is expected this summer. Section 2 covers the building of the four-lane bridge beginning in 2027.

Leaders in Princeton and Mount Vernon also have their eye on expanding their residentsโ€™ access to broadband internet.

Regional Cooperation

Each mayor agreed that they are building on strong existing relationships between their respective city administrations in accomplishing regional goals. Wright pointed out the mayorsโ€™ strength in numbers and highlighted one close connection: His wife and Loehrโ€™s wife are first cousins.

โ€œWe’ll be at a family reunion talking about sewer plants and those kinds of things,โ€ he laughed.

A former coach, Loehr likened regional leadersโ€™ communication to a sports team working toward a common goal.

โ€œWeโ€™ve got to share ideas,โ€ he said. An idea in โ€œone city may not work in another, and vice versa. But you can’t be afraid to communicate, and that has not been a problem with the mayors here and I appreciate that.โ€

โ€œIt’s not Henderson versus Evansville. It’s Henderson along with cities in our region,โ€ Staton added. โ€œWe’re very willing to continue that partnership moving forward and make intentional effort to get together on a regular basis to share information and share good things and see how we can prosper together.โ€

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Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen is the managing editor of Evansville Living and Evansville Business magazines.

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