 Hello, my name is Daryl Hoffman. I am the city minister of the city of Sheboygan. Thank you for giving me time today to talk about the city's strategic plan and its updates. Some of the information contained within my report is based upon the 2017 to 2021 strategic plans, fourth quarter action items and critical measurements. I have been providing these quarterly measurement updates to the Common Council to ensure that the city's efforts are working toward supporting these strategic plans. Creation of the strategic plan action items and critical measurements are provided by resident input. Our goals to uphold the strategic plan with these measurables and tasks to track our progress toward meeting our goals. The strategic plan mission statements for the city of Sheboygan is dedicated to providing residents, the business community and visitors with fiscally responsible municipal services in an effective and responsive manner to meet the needs of our diverse community. The strategic plan's vision statement is the city of Sheboygan will be a family oriented and prosperous community with a wide variety of housing, business, cultural and recreational opportunities in safe and attractive neighborhoods. The six strategic plan focus areas are quality of life, infrastructure and public facilities, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, governing and fiscal management and finally communication. We begin the review of our quality of life related benchmark target goals and achievements for 2019. One of the key objectives in the quality of life focus area is support and enhanced programming and activities that encourage increased guardianship and crime reduction in our neighborhoods. This chart confirms a significant decrease in Part 1 crime rates, specifically property crimes. Between 2018 and 2019, a 12% decrease in these Part 1 property crime rates occurred. This chart shows an overall decrease of 34% in property crimes from 2015 to 2019. Although the city has experienced some ups and downs in Part 1 crime rates for violent crimes, the chart confirms an average of 144 violent crimes occurred between 2015 and 2019. This is a notable decrease from the 159 violent crimes in 2015. Another quality of life amenity is the city's new ADA compliant canoe kayak launch installed at Kiwanis Park. This launch was initially installed in 2018, but final work on this project was completed in 2019. This launch project utilizes grant funding from the Sheboygan County and the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program. In 2018, the city established an adopt a park program to empower residents to support efforts to maintain city parks and trails. During 2019, three parks or trail areas were adopted, including Coal Park, which was adopted by the Balrath North Point Neighborhood Association, Shoreland 400 Trail, which was adopted by RCS, and the Lake Michigan Bluff, which was adopted by the Friends of North Point. In 2019, the city of Sheboygan received multiple accolades. Several of these recognitions were national in nature, and some were based within the state of Wisconsin. The city of Sheboygan was number 18, best small city for businesses by the chamber of commerce.org. The city of Sheboygan was number 5, best place for millennials to move by review.org. The city of Sheboygan was number 7 in the nation for most unique art town by Cubesmart.org. SoulSmart Bronze Award was received by the city for its solar energy growth efforts. The city of Sheboygan was number 9 for best cities for older Americans in retirement by 24-7 Wall Street. And last, the city was number 10 within the state of Wisconsin for the best city to live by the chamber of commerce.org. In 2019, Shoreline Metro, the city's transit service, received its highest ridership totals since 2001. During the past nine years, the transit ridership increased 54%. The annual increase in ridership is substantial. Between 2018 and 2019, transit ridership increased 13% during this one-year period. In 2019 alone, Shoreline Metro ridership experienced a 14% increase. During 2019, the city took delivery of five new fixed route buses. These are the first new buses the city has purchased in over 10 years. In 2018, city staff combined forces with a diverse resident-based task force to work toward achievement of the American Association of Retired Persons, or ARP. It's age-friendly community designation for the city of Sheboygan. This designation supports the theory that an age-friendly community improves the quality of life for not only older people, but all ages living within our community. The age-friendly community provides improved living for all residents. The results of the work include the creation of a livable Sheboygan plan. ARP approved this livable Sheboygan plan in 2019, designating Sheboygan as one of six age-friendly communities within the state of Wisconsin. The age-friendly community recognition is an international designation affiliated with the World Health Organization's global network. The eight domains of the livable community are pictured here. It will have significant impact on the next update to the city's strategic plan. During a 15-month period, the city worked hard to renovate its 102-year-old city hall. In September of this year, the city moved from its temporary locations back into this 102-year-old building. Also in 2019, the Mead Public Library Plaza and its adjacent parking lot and the Halpern Fountain experienced a complete revitalization, establishing a connection in the downtown area to the city green. Focus area number two is infrastructure and public facilities. During our annual community survey, we received consistent feedback from residents to focus on street improvements. One of the key objectives in the infrastructure and public facility focus area is to construct, repair, maintain city streets, sewers, and other critical infrastructure to ensure public safety and commerce. During 2019, the miles of street improvement decreased due to the city's need to partially allocate funds for the total reconstruction of the Pennsylvania Avenue Bridge and the North Avenue area between North 15th Street extending west to Calumet Drive. These two large street improvement projects included complete street and underground utilities reconstruction. Both projects were primarily funded by grant dollars, which determined the simultaneous timeline for the completion of both of these projects. This chart confirms more miles of street improvement occurred in 2018 and 2017. However, the projects completed during these two years were strictly pavement overlays, not complete street reconstructions, as it was in 2019. In 2019, the city paving crews also completed paving resurfacing projects on Pershing, North 8th Street, and North Taylor Drive. Our street surfaces are rated on a PASER scale. PASER was developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Transportation Improvement Center. The 1-10 rating scale assesses road pavement conditions uniformly across the entire state. Then PASER rating is conducted every two years by community. With the strategic plan's concerted effort on road improvement, the city's PASER rating continues to improve. The 2018-2019 PASER rating achieved a 6% gain from the 2016-2017 PASER rating. Our continued steady focus on street improvements will ensure that Cheboygan's PASER rating continues to grow in the future. Annually, the city is spending approximately $200,000 on managing the impact of emerald ash borer beetle on city-owned trees in both parks and in terrace areas. In 2019, 535 new non-ash trees were planted and 800 ash trees were treated to combat the destruction caused by the beetle. In 2020, the city will finalize the purchase of 1.67 miles of former Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way. This land acquisition will connect existing shoreline 400 trail, which currently ends at Pennsylvania Avenue. The funding for this program is through a tax incremental district and not taxpayer dependent. Upon completion of the extension, the trail will extend from North Avenue, southward toward Union Avenue. The timeline for completion of the improvements on this extended shoreline 400 trail are yet to be determined. The focus area number three is economic development. Strong interest continues in the residential real estate market within the city of Cheboygan. More people than ever want to own residential property within the city. These buyers are willing to pay more for their real estate purchases. This is great news after property values plummeted in 2009 after reaching their peak in 2018. This graph shows interesting changes to residential property values within the city from the Great Recession. In 2009 until 2015, property owners experienced an overall decrease of value by 16%. This decrease equates to $353 million of lost value. During the past three years, residential property values have experienced respectable increases, 6, 9 and an additional 6% this last year. This equates to millions of dollars of increase during this three-year period. In June 2020, the city will receive reports from the state of Wisconsin regarding the overall sales and related real estate values for 2019. Please note that the values do not include multifamily properties which are considered commercial properties for valuation purposes. This city has and continues to work hard on redevelopment. Since 2015, the value of the city's tax incremental districts or TIDs have achieved a 77% increase, which is an $85 million increase. The South Point Enterprise Campus Business Park located on the city's south side was completed in 2019. Approximately 150 acres are available for business development and expansion. The River Bend Neighborhood Master Plan was finalized and approved in 2019. Many exciting things are occurring within this section of the city including the relocation of Lakeshore Technical Colleges, Sheboygan Campus, Domestecore, Carpet One, construction of Waters Edge Condominiums on the Sheboygan River, and interest from senior housing developers on the former Mayline site located north of Pennsylvania Avenue. In partnership with the Harbor Center Business Improvement District, the city developed a pop-up shop program in the fall of 2019. Three businesses were selected to open their doors in the pop-up shop relocation area. They include Hometown Barkery, Cultivated Taste, and Nest Adorn. At the conclusion of the pop-up shop program, all three businesses continued to operate in the downtown area. Sheboygan was successful in finalizing development agreements on three blighted redevelopment sites. Two of the three housing developments are already under construction including Kingsbury Village on North Tenth Street with an anticipated value of $6 million and Phase 1 construction of South Pier Condos with an estimated value of $6 million. The third development project is the Oscar located on the former Vandervaart Concrete product site adjacent to South Business Drive. This housing development is anticipated to be valued at $47 million. Construction on the Oscar is expected to begin by mid-summer 2020. In 2018, the city began a partnership with the Sheboygan Economic Development Corporation, or SEDC, to establish a redevelopment area near the corner of South Tenth Street and Indiana Avenue, known as the Innovation District. In 2019, the city purchased three additional properties near this location including the former Craft 30 building. The additional properties will expand the city's footprint for this innovation district. Last year, the city began discussions with a developer who is currently pursuing construction of a three to four storey office collaboration center. The SEDC hired a director who is responsible for developing programming consistent with the FreshTech Innovation District's mission. By July 2020, the former Badger State Tanning Company's building, located at Indiana Avenue and Maryland Avenue, will complete its restoration as the Badger State Loft Apartments. This development will include 118 workforce housing units. The total cost for the Badger State Lofts project is $30 million. According to the strategic plan's focus area number four, the goal of neighborhood revitalization is to encourage reinvestment in the city's housing stock and create solid neighborhoods with strong leadership and ensure quality new housing developments, creating new diverse and affordable options for all citizens. City staff from multiple departments continue working together with residents to strengthen these neighborhoods within the city of Sheboygan. In 2019, we saw some significant events related to neighborhood revitalization efforts, including the formation of the city's 10th official neighborhood association. The neighborhood association initiative began in 2012 with the creation of the first neighborhood association for the Gateway neighborhood. During 2019, the city residents within the official neighborhood associations received an additional incentive in the form of the first annual large item disposable program. 23 tons of garbage were collected from these neighborhood associations that participated in this program. In 2017, the city began a partnership with Habitat for Humanities by hosting the first Rock the Block event. In 2019, Rock the Block has expanded from a single day event to a three-day event. For the past three years, the city staff has been targeting historic neighborhoods to identify and stabilize them. Utilizing increased code enforcement does bring focus to abandoned vehicles, weeds, conditions of roof, and maintenance improvement issues. In 2019, five neighborhoods were mapped to collect this baseline information for future improvement reviews. The five neighborhoods include South Calumet, River Bend, River Watch, Southlake, and King Park. The first part-time code enforcement officer was hired by the city of Sheboygan in 2015. In 2019, 1047 code enforcement orders were issued as part of these code enforcement actions. The first key strategy of focus area number five, governing and fiscal management, is to develop efficient transparent processes systems to provide financial information and foster sustainability. Since 2017, Sheboygan has received annual recognition from several national organizations including the Government Finance Officers Association or GFOA and the International City County Management Association or ICMA. Regarding the city's budget documents, our comprehensive annual financial report, CAFR, and our popular annual financial report, PAFR. Our performance measurement program also received recognition. Within the state of Wisconsin, Sheboygan is one of 17 communities earning the GFOA Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, one of six municipalities receiving the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for our CAFR and PAFR documents. Sheboygan continues to be recognized by ICMA as a leader in the performance measurement as the city was only one of two municipalities in the state of Wisconsin to receive this recognition. All of these documents are available in electronic version and also print format. The electronic version is available on the city's website, the hard copy is available at the Mead Public Library, City Clerk's Office. The city's main operating fund is the city's general fund. A large number of cities operating expenditures are paid via this general fund. One of the most critical fiscal policies that the city upholds is to maintain a minimum of 25% uncommitted fund balance. This graph depicts the uncommitted general fund balance in two ways, by dollar amounts and by percentage of general fund expenditures. As you can see over the past five years, the average percent of uncommitted fund balance was 51% well above the minimum 25% amount. At the end of 2019, the uncommitted general fund balance is estimated to reach 46% or $17.3 million. Another critical fiscal policy contains an amount mandated by the state and is affirmed by the common councils related to the city's ability to issue debt. This chart shows the debt management limits. The blue cylinder on the left represents the state of Wisconsin's mandated maximum amount of debt the city can issue. The statutory limit is $146 million or 5% of the city's equalized value. The red cylinder in the middle represents the borrowed limit established by the common council in a policy. This limit is $88 million or 60% of that state mandated statutory limit. The green column on the right represents the city's actual and debt outstanding which is $38 million or 26% of that state mandatory statutory limit. The debt amount includes debt associated with tax incremental districts as well as general obligation debt. As you can see, the city's historically has borrowed significantly less than what is allowed by state statute and the common councils policy. The city has a double A bond rating provided by Moody's Investor Service. Sheboygan has held a double A-2 rating since 2010. The higher bond rating provides the city with many benefits including lower interest rates and of course lower borrowing costs. Prior to receiving the double A-2 bond rating 10 years ago, the city had a double A-3 bond rating. Communication is the strategic plan's focus area number six. The city has worked hard to improve communication with our residents and businesses alike. Sheboygan has expanded all of its social media communication, implemented a monthly e-newsletter, Sheboygan Insider, and included the Transparency and Benchmarking Center powered by ClearGov to empower residents. In 2019, a communication task force was created with key city staff and communication experts from a variety of Sheboygan County organizations to establish the best practices for internal and external communication. The employee portion of the task force continued to make progress to implement these best practices within the city's external and internal communication efforts. One of the easiest ways for residents to provide continued input and feedback to the city is through our annual community survey. Online survey is currently open through Sunday, February 23rd. The survey can be accessed through visiting the city's website www.sheboyganwi.gov. Paper surveys are available at the clerk's office, Me Public Library, and the Senior Activity Center. I want to thank you for allowing me the time to share information with you regarding the city's successful 2019 activities presented in the state of the city message. The city has many new and exciting initiatives planned for 2020. I look forward to providing you with an update regarding these successes at the same time next year.