Mayor reviews 2025 accomplishments as city posts balanced budget

Mayor summarized 2025 accomplishments and set priorities for 2026. In a wide-ranging address, the mayor credited staff for closing the year with revenues of $8,800,000 and expenses of $8,700,000, calling that result “a balanced budget” and a reflection of “daily discipline, long-term planning, and a commitment to spending taxpayer dollars wisely.”

The mayor highlighted public-safety and legal workload: the law department supervised about 550 criminal cases and 1,800 traffic cases in 2025, managed two appeals, handled two ongoing civil cases and drafted roughly 59 ordinances and resolutions, according to the mayor’s report. On housing and building, zoning and code enforcement handled 370 cases and the city recorded 14 new homes built in 2025, up from 10 in 2024.

Utility and public-works milestones included an electric department AMI meter program (3,500 meters replaced), installation of three-phase service for an EV charging pilot, and a one-third-mile service extension on County Road 15A. Public works reported in-house completion of the 5th and Brown Brownell water line, saving the city about $115,000, and the East Washington sanitary phase finished nearly $900,000 under budget. Staff said planning for a biosolids program will resume in 2026.

Nut graf: The address packaged operational metrics and capital projects to frame the council’s 2026 priorities: maintaining infrastructure, continuing prudent fiscal management and completing outstanding sanitation compliance work with Ohio EPA. Those topics also appeared later on the agenda during votes and committee reports.

The mayor closed by thanking council members and staff for “steady oversight” and said the city will keep investing responsibly in infrastructure and services in 2026.