HUNTINGTON — “My resolve remains to keep believing in and working for a better Huntington,” Huntington Mayor Richard Strick said during his Tuesday Feb. 11 State of the City address.

“My resolve remains to keep believing in and working for a better Huntington,” he concluded. “As the second largest city in Northeast Indiana, I’m not content. We can and will do better as we keep investing our lives in this community.”

Strick said he expects to continue to help city departments get what they need for their employees and do their jobs in the coming year.

He reviewed last year’s efforts, and suggested the council and staff not lose sight of their work amidst the work going on nationwide.

During his address he listed 2024 projects, plans from each department and what’s to come, such as continuing with road and sewer infrastructure projects, the police department’s partnership with the high school and Huntington County Sheriff’s Office, and the Huntington Fire Department’s new fire truck and plans for a new fire station.

Some projects and initiatives in 2025 citizens can look forward to listed in the city’s news release follow are also part of the city’s downtown comprehensive plan.

Finishing Huntington’s Long-Term Control Plan,

Redeveloping Downtown through public-private partnerships,

Continue planning for the Riverfork West industrial park’s second phase,

Working with the local board formed to lead our south side grocery store efforts,

Updating the Water Service Line Inventory,

Rebuilding Division Street,

Remodeling City Hall,

Renovating Downtown streetscapes,

Making major improvements at Memorial Park,

Extending Huntington’s trail system, and

Exploring a possible community pool.

“We may not always agree on the details, but we are all genuinely committed to delivering continuous improvements and better results,” Strick said.

After the meeting, council member at-large PJ Fulton commented on the address.

“I loved it,” Fulton said. “He always gives a good state address. He gives admiration to each department, their ups and their downs throughout the year. Just like the water main breaks that we had on the July 4th (downtown). That was a disaster. Everything that came of it. The crew was out there working. We got it all take in care of within a day’s time. Amazing job.”

Council Member Todd Johnson, Dist. 3, said it was a good speech, informative and a nice review for the council as they already voted on many things and the 2025 budget.

“This year will be more challenging because of what the state (legislature) is trying to do with the bill in there … The way it’s written, they are acting like they are giving people a (tax) cut, but they are taking money away from the (schools), city and county.”

Terry Miller, Huntington County Council member, also attended the Mayor’s State of the City address, and the second city one was presented on Friday, Feb. 14 at the Huntington Arts and Entreprenurial Center. Miller also attended and commented on a Feb. 12 panel discussion about the Huntington downtown Master Plan at Huntington University, saying he didn’t realize all the city plans to do downtown.

“It’s really big for the next couple of years,” Miller said. “They’re going to do all the downtown, the curbs and sidewalks. They’re going to do the waterfront, they’ve got some stuff going on at the park. They’re going to redo the city building because that hasn’t been done in 50 years. There’s lot of things in there. There used to be a fire station in it and they’re going to make use of that space. ... They’ve got grants and a bond. It will be really exciting.”

The mayor reported on the Wednesday panel.

“We’re trying to help folks understand the process and time that those panelists put into the downtown master plan, and how that master plan we’ve already begun to work on implementation,” Strick said. “Some of those are program events and some of those are capitol projects.

“The (Huntington County) Community Foundation of course used that to go and get a $4.8 million Lilly grant to invest in some improvements in the downtown. It’s just great to have that (downtown) feedback from the community,” he said, and the first step for the downtown area is getting actual plans in place.
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