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EAGLE LAKE – The accomplishments, success and progress made by the city of Eagle Lake over the past year is set to be reviewed and celebrated at the inaugural ‘State of the City Address’ on Nov. 9 with dinner starting at 7 p.m. in the EL Community Center, 100 N Walnut Ave. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s a recap, kind of a celebration of the accomplishments in the year,” City Manager Charles “Tink” Johnson said, “It’s a chance to say, ‘hey we’re a lot further ahead than we were a year ago.’” There will be plenty to discuss as city officials say that the past year held many positives that deserve to be recognized. The future will also be a topic approached at the event; however, the officials will not be discussing business like budgets as the city council has already set those things in place for the upcoming year. Officials may discuss initiatives that have already been set in motion by the city council.
“We’ll talk about some of the items on the budget that are already approved for this year and what those mean,” Johnson said, “...anything that’s still to come, we’ll talk about when the council makes action on it.”
While there will not be any deliberation on future actions for the city, next year’s goals and hopes are likely to be included as the city reviews its high points and accomplished goals over the last year.
The state of the city address is a new concept to Eagle Lake, but not to much larger cities that already have an annual address for their residents. The city officials intend on making this a new tradition for their residents as well.
The goal is to increase awareness of some of the positive initiatives that have been put into action throughout the prior year.
“There’s always lots of people who want to talk about negative stuff, and there’s never enough talking about positives. So, we’re going to talk about the positives,” Johnson said.
Eagle Lake is hoping that discussing the year’s accomplishments in a public forum in this manner will bring some of the positive changes that have occurred in the past year to light. The city officials like Johnson and Mayor Tim Kelley who had a hand in bringing this event to Eagle Lake recognize the significance of their place in the town’s history as they launch a new annual tradition for its residents.
“We’re focused on what’s good now and what’s going to get better,” Johnson said, “I think this is a very important event. I’m very excited to be a part of it and very happy to be the city manager that was here at a time where we did enough to have one of these events.”
Find coverage of the State of the City Address in next week’s edition of the Citizen.
