MAYOR’S ANNUAL REPORT
STATE OF THE CITY
January 5, 2009

Dear Massillonians:

May the new year bring prosperity and health to all in our wonderful community.

As everyone knows, a recession has hit the United States. These turbulent economic times affects all communities, both large and small. Massillon is no exception. However, some positive things did occur in 2008. These are as follows:

1) In the industrial sector, Case Farms and Vision Power, both announced in 2007, are constructing new facilities at the present time. Other companies such as Fiber-Corr, Pepsi America, Grief Brothers and Midwestern Industries did some industrial alterations. The major industrial announcement for 2008, of course, was Shearer’s Foods new $66,000,000.00 manufacturing office and warehouse facility to be located in the NEOCOM Industrial Park in southeast Massillon. This took place after a very competitive, exhaustive site selection process that culminated in Shearer’s picking Massillon over many alternative sites. This shows that the City of Massillon can successfully compete for major industrial expansions. It also shows that even during these difficult economic times, some positive news did take place. The Shearer’s announcement, as well as the aforementioned industrial accomplishments for 2008, indicate that Massillon continues to diversify its industrial base and buck some local, state and national trends where no development is taking place. With hundreds of developable prime acres, I have always stated that Massillon’s better days are yet to come

2) In the commercial-retail sector, Menard’s new $2,600,000.00 home improvement store is nearing completion in southwest Massillon on State Route 21. This is Menard’s first venture in northeast Ohio. What does this show? Massillon is a desirable retail community and many of the national stores have recently located here. Also, as all of you know, Kohl’s would like to locate to Massillon. I feel confident that Massillon will have a new Kohl’s Store. This would be a tremendous boost for our retail base because Kohl’s is one of America’s best retail corporations. It would also stimulate more retail development in the area that the store locates. Also, a new $7,500,000.00 assisted-care facility known as The Inn at University Village is under construction on Richville Drive S.E.

3) In the residential sector, Massillon has emulated the national trend of a drop in housing starts. A total of 27 housing units were built in the City in 2008. It was the lowest amount of housing units since 1987. It will probably take another year to reverse this trend, but Massillon will continue to make improvements in our existing neighborhoods. The City has been given a $1,578,149.00 grant from the Ohio Department of Development to participate in the Ohio Neighborhood Stabilization Program. This will extremely help our City, where foreclosures have occurred throughout the city. This money will help stabilize our neighborhoods and our housing plan to utilize these new dollars will get underway shortly.

On another positive point, there was $39,271,095.00 worth of building permits issued in 2008. This is the highest amount of issued building permits since 2003. It represented the fourth highest valuation this decade!!!!

This shows that people are investing in our City and this is certainly important when one considers “the big picture”. Investments should continue in 2009, especially considering some larger projects which are on the drawing board.

Going into 2009, everyone should be concerned about the City Budget. Our country’s economy is in a recession and what happens or doesn’t happen in Washington D.C. and/or Columbus certainly affects everyone and everything in Massillon. We are going to monitor the Budget on a daily basis and consistently look at revenues. We will do everything possible to get through 2009 without drastic cuts. While all of this is going on a problem needs to be addressed. The financing and operation of the Massillon Municipal Court needs to be solved. Everyone knows that our Court district is unique to the State of Ohio. However, that doesn’t eliminate the fact that it remains a severe hardship on the total City of Massillon’s financial picture. Whether it’s solved locally or at the state legislative level, it definitely needs fixed. The cost of the Court plus the revenues of the Court need to be more balanced. Why should the citizens of Massillon need to continue to make up the deficit that exists in this Court district?? It needs to be resolved immediately. This situation is not going away

In closing, let’s work together to make Massillon an even better community in which to live and work.

Happy New Year to you and your families.

Respectfully,

__________________________________
FRANCIS H. CICCHINELLI, JR.