Where do Evansville's big projects stand? Mayor Lloyd Winnecke gives update

Penguins that will be part of Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Garden’s new exhibit are arriving in Evansville from other zoos and are, to coin a current popular phrase, in quarantine out of public view. But Winnecke showed a video of them.

Winnecke said the Wayne and Beth Kinney Family Penguins of Patagonia will be “a game-changing exhibit for our zoo” with interactive features.

More: Pandemics, pools and penguins: Local government leaders talk 2021 priorities

Expected to open this summer, the exhibit of 18-25 Humboldt penguins is designed to resemble a coastline in Chile. The Humboldt species is native to South America.

The zoo continues to seek donations for the exhibit, which has both public and private sources. Zoo Director Erik Beck said the penguins’ lake has geothermal technology, and its water will be captured, cleaned and reused.

“We won’t use any fossil fuels to heat or cool the pool or the indoor spaces,” Beck said.

The zoo’s finances took a pounding due to COVID-19, which forced the facility to close during much of its peak season. Attendance was nearly 180,000 in 2019 and just above 80,000 in 2020.

Beck, though, said Mesker enjoyed a rebound late in the year, thanks to good weather. The zoo saw about 6,000 guests in November, a record for the month.

Pool

Deaconess Aquatic Center – which includes a competition pool, a leisure pool and an outdoor splash pad – is expected to open by the end of July.

The roof is complete, and it’s hoped the building will be enclosed by late January or early February, said Brian Holtz, parks and recreation director.

Evansville Parks and Recreation and the YMCA will develop programming at the new pool for people of all ages, Holtz said.

With indoor seating for 900 spectators, the facility is designed for swimming and diving events of all types. It’s been selected to host the NCAA Division II swimming and diving national championships in 2026.

It will have a display honoring Evansville’s swimming greats, including Olympic gold medalist Lilly King.

Winnecke was asked about future plans for Lloyd Pool on First Avenue, which will close when Deaconess Aquatic Center opens. Lloyd Pool opened in 1975.

The mayor said he will include funding in his 2022 budget proposal to tear down Lloyd Pool. Future use of the site is undetermined, though it will remain a park setting, Winnecke said.

Infrastructure

Winnecke didn't speak in detail to the Chamber audience about hundreds of millions of dollars in water and sewer upgrades happening across the city, but he asked City Engineer Brent Schmitt to update the Walnut Street improvement project.

In phases, Walnut from Fourth Street to Vann Avenue (3.1 miles) is being rebuilt as a three-lane road, with a protected pedestrian path. The pedestrian path is to eventually head north on Vann to the bridge constructed above Lloyd Expressway in 2015.

The project is complete in spots, including within the University of Evansville campus. Schmitt Construction will start late this year or early 2022 between Weinbach and Vann avenues.

The section of Walnut between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and U.S. 41 "is the most challenging from a technical perspective due to age of the infrastructure and historic properties in the area,” Schmitt said. Construction on that phase is expected in 2023 with a completion goal of summer 2024.

Winnecke also updated the Fifth & Main project Downtown.

Domo Development, which bought the mostly empty 18-story tower at 420 Main St., recently announced it has abandoned a plan to rehab the tower. The company's current plan is to demolish it as well as another building on the block.

Winnecke said the timing of this happening depends upon a tax credit from the state, and officials hope to hear "sooner rather than later" if the application is successful.

If the tax credit is approved, the tower will implode this year, the mayor said.

Pandemic and finances

Federal aid is helping some, but the coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on city government finances.

The 2021 city budget cut 16 employment positions. The City Council last year repealed about $3.5 million in expenses for 2020 and dealt with a state-mandated extension of property tax payments.

Evansville borrowed about $16 million from a state-run loan program to get through 2020. The loan is repaid in full, Winnecke said.

METS ridership fell from more than 965,000 riders in 2019 to just under 448,000 in 2020. About $6.3 million in federal CARES Act funding helped METS get through the year.

Winnecke said $3.8 million in other CARES Act funding "helped plug the holes but does not make us whole."

City government, Winnecke said, can expect "continued difficulty budgeting in the next 2-3 years" because of pandemic fallout.

Winnecke said COVID-19 impacted all city departments in 2020, with multiple employees testing positive for the virus and requiring time off.

Public health continues to be a major concern, Winnecke said. A half-hour before the mayor's presentation to the Chamber Wednesday, the Indiana State Department of Health announced 170 new positive cases of COVID-19 in Vanderburgh County.

The county has seen 210 deaths.

"We each make decisions in our lives and our businesses lives that affect public health," Winnecke said. "We want to get as many people as possible vaccinated. We have health systems in our community that compete, but when it comes to this pandemic, they are arm-in-arm, as well as our health department."

Ascension St. Vincent Evansville President Dan Parod, who introduced Winnecke, said Dec. 9 was a peak day in hospitalization levels, and it is "a slightly encouraging sign that we are down a little bit" from that.

Even so, the Evansville area remains "in the midst of a very significant surge of COVID-19 spread and hospitalizations," Parod said.