This Saturday afternoon we will have the next “Movie at Parkside”.  The movie this month is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and it be shown Saturday January 8^th at 3:00 pm.  Thank you to Buckwalter Motors for sponsoring the movie this month and making it possible to have this free for the public.  There will be concessions available so bring your whole family and enjoy an afternoon at Parkside.

The City has several projects that we will be working on in 2011.  The preliminary budget for the next fiscal year has not been finalized yet but the Council has set their priorities for projects for the year. 

The biggest project is the reverse osmosis upgrade to the water plant.  This project is already underway and should be completed this summer, providing Wellman with excellent water and solving our ongoing water treatment issues.  The other bigger projects the Council would like to do includes complete renovations of Circle Drive and 6^th Ave from Hwy 22 to the Elementary.  This would include new water, storm sewer, sanitary sewer, curb and gutter and concrete road.  Aside from the actual roads needing to be replaced, these two streets are in desperate need of upgrading the storm sewers through that area.  This is causing a great deal of infiltration into our sanitary sewer system and putting a strain on our sewer plant.  Part of this project is also replacing about 40 fire hydrants in town which are either extremely old or our not functioning properly.

Some smaller projects include remodeling all of the park benches and picnic tables.  We will be replacing all of the wood with recycled plastic boards that are stronger, last longer, and never need to be painted.  Hopefully this will be completed by spring.  Another project will be replacing all of the water and gas meters in town and adding radio read capability.  Replacing the meters is long overdue and the new radio reads will allow us to read meters in a couple of hours each month rather than three or more days.

The best part of all of this is that we will be getting these projects done while keeping our tax rates low and continuing to build our reserves to the recommended amounts.

2011 looks to be a very good year in Wellman with a lot of important improvements taking place and our community continuing to move forward.  I want to thank everyone who continues to work so hard for the betterment of our community!