Pictured is Mayor Eddie Sundquist during Monday’s State of the City address.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist reflected on the city’s accomplishments during 2022 in his State of the City address on Monday.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen incredible strides forward for Jamestown, with groundbreaking American Rescue Plan programs, strong city finances not seen in decades and technological advances in our city government,” he said. “Our city departments and workers have risen to the challenge and delivered excellent results for the residents of Jamestown. I’m proud to say that the state of our city is strong and focused on finding collaborative solutions to move our city forward.”

Sundquist detailed some of the city’s major achievements, including settling all of the city’s union contracts over the past couple years, transitioning to a new health care program for retirees that saves both city taxpayers and retirees money, investing in new technology to provide protection against cyber attacks and enhance city business and improving school zone and pedestrian safety throughout the city.

Sundquist said the city made major investments into the Parks Department, including the construction and opening of a “world class skate park” and future plans for splash pads in the city.

“We’ve also been busy working on infrastructure and revitalizing our businesses,” Sundquist said. “Our Department of Public Works had a record year repairing, repaving and improving our infrastructure.”

Sundquist said the city has worked in conjunction with state and federal partners to complete “record miles” of roadwork, renovation of parking garages, storm-water retention ponds and other various projects.

In addition to these projects, Sundquist said the city started the construction of a new centralized fleet maintenance facility during 2022. The new facility is expected to be completed this year.

Sundquist explained that the city’s Department of Development has worked to administer multiple ARPA programs that has resulted in $13.1 million in improvements to community homeowners and businesses. Sundquist emphasized that the number of ARPA programs will “only increase” in 2023 as more programs are developed, approved and implemented in the community.

As the city seeks to promote the development of new industries in Jamestown, Sundquist reaffirmed the city’s commitment to helping develop the cannabis industry.

“This new industry will not only create hundreds of job opportunities in the city, but will also see recently purchased and often underutilized spaces re-purposed and back on the tax rolls,” he said. “Jamestown is fully committed and steadfast in ensuring its new development of cannabis industry, but we want to make sure it is done properly and by the law.”

Along with the development of new industries, Sundquist emphasized the importance of providing different methods of transportation. In an effort to offer alternative methods of transportation, Sundquist said his administration is working with state and federal partners to address the city’s lack of railroad and air service. Additionally, the city is working to implement the Vision Zero proposal that was introduced earlier in 2022 to increase the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians through new street designs throughout Jamestown.

“We’ve applied for numerous grants and remain dedicated in eliminating all fatal and serious traffic related accidents,” he said. “In this mission, we will begin to add new bike lanes in highly traveled streets, fix current sidewalk issues and in the near future install speed cameras in school zones.”

Highlighting the improvements to the city over the past few years, Sundquist said the city currently has the largest fund balance “in decades” and has avoided raising city taxes.

Looking ahead to 2023, Sundquist said collaboration will play a key role in city-wide efforts to bring additional improvements to the community.

“It’s impossible to solve everything by yourself,” he said. “Solving problems requires trust, honesty, hard work and seeing what we can all bring to the table.”