Haverhill Mayor Melinda E. Barrett assessed the high points of her last 16 months in office and looked to the future in her first State of the City address Tuesday delivered in the City Hall auditorium.
Against a backdrop of city, state and the America flag and with her department heads, city hall staff and members of the public cheering her on, Barrett reflected on the successes of her administration, priorities for the future and gave a warning about city finances.
Preceding her at the podium was Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll who praised Barrett and other city leaders for their willingness to serve the public and make the city and state a better place to live. Driscoll, the former mayor of Salem, pointed out the challenges inherent in the position that Barrett holds.
“It’s a job that is one of the hardest jobs in America, serving as a mayor, particularly of what I consider to be medium-sized cities where you don’t have ton of staff writing press releases and doing the communications, doing all the work you might have in a larger city but you have all the same the challenges. You’ve got to educate kids, you’ve got to keep neighborhoods safe, you got to have a vision for the future and you got to work on things people need right away today,” she said.
Driscoll was welcomed to the city by Council President Thomas J. Sullivan who thanked her for traveling to Haverhill and honoring its mayor.
When Barrett took the podium, she first focused on changes that are happening in the city’s downtown, noting that the ongoing construction at the corner of Main and Merrimack Streets where the aging Herbert H. Goecke Jr. Memorial Parking Deck is being replaced with 394 apartments, 600 parking spaces and 20,000 square feet of new retail will change the character of the city’s gateway to downtown. More work needs to be done, she said, in Washington Square, which needs an upgrade. She said the city recently hired a downtown events coordinator, who will be responsible for planning and executing events year round so that downtown is more attractive to young people, businesses and families alike.
While she said she was pleased the city is adding 1,700 new, mostly rental housing units, she made the case for more ownership opportunities as part of a strategy for “balanced growth.”
“When it comes to housing, the city will pursue a strategy of balanced growth. I am a big advocate for more ownership opportunities in the city where people can get their foot into the real estate market and our seniors can downsize while staying in the community. Right now, those opportunities are few and far between,” she said.
Barrett gave a shout out to the many local organizations who work in collaboration with the city and said crime is down 21% in part because the Haverhill Police Department is fully staffed for the first time in three decades. She also noted that the Department of Public Works responded to 322 pothole service requests and that 75 streets have been paved and four miles of sidewalks installed in the last year. Noting that Haverhill is fortunate to have several parks and recreation areas within its city limits, she said basketball, baseball and street hockey facilities there have been upgraded at Riverside Park and four new pickle ball courts have been added.
Looking to the future, Barrett said she said the city continues to pursue acquisition of land for a long-planned fire station at the intersection of Route 97 and Interstate 495.
“It will be a state-of-the-art station and perhaps a regional public safety building located on land that is easily assessable and our neighboring communities can utilize this space, particularly if we go in the direction of truck maintenance. Smaller communities do not have the great maintenance crew we have in Haverhill,” the mayor explained.
Turning her attention to challenges the city faces in coming months, she noted current economic times are unsettling and that what she can do is control city spending. Along those lines she has changed the way the city budgets.
“For too long, we deferred maintenance of city property and subsidized taxes with free cash to meet the operational needs of the city. When I came into office, I quickly realized we couldn’t keep down that road,” she said.
She said an overhaul of the city’s information technology department has saved taxpayer dollars, a theme she hopes will be evident as the city enters this year’s budget season.
Finally, she encouraged city residents to bring her ideas to make Haverhill better.
“If you have an idea, if you care about this city and you want to tell us some great idea please come to my office and share your ideas, share your thoughts. My door is always open,” Barrett concluded.