The time is flying, and so is the snow! It’s been a long time since we have seen this much snow in the valley. First, I’d like to thank our excellent Orem road crews, who are working long hours to keep our streets safe.
Each year, the Orem City Council holds a “retreat” to set goals and priorities for the year ahead. These two days of meetings allow us to focus our efforts and have critical discussions with the City’s executive staff and our City Council. We recently held this annual meeting, and I’m pleased with our direction for 2023 and beyond.
Since the beginning of my term, and again last month, I stated my goal of aligning the interest of the City Council, City employees, and our community. In our meeting, the entire City Council and Executive Staff
adopted this as a primary area of focus. We are all on “Team Orem” and will work together to move our team forward.
Family City USA will continue to be the benchmark on which we base our decisions, and we will continue to expand its branding. At the end of the day, we are one giant Orem family!
Another area of focus is “Safe, Livable, Connected, and Engaged Neighborhoods.” Again, we see opportunities to improve communications, engagement, and education outreach. Expect to see a lot happening in this area.
Working toward a Thriving and Balanced Business Environment includes a renewed focus on commercial, retail, and service businesses. This year the Council also plans to further define the future of State Street to make sure it aligns with what Orem residents want.
In the area of Dependable Infrastructure, we have our hands full. Usually, we have one major infrastructure project each year. However, this year we have four significant projects coming together at once. Our new City Center, Hillcrest Park, the new Heritage Park with its Deep Well, ten million gallon water storage tank, and finally, to boost conservation, our new water reuse facility. In addition, to improve safety, we are fast-tracking installing a traffic signal at 400 South and 400 West. We are also working on an update of the Transportation Master Plan and evaluating our best path forward for a significant overhaul and upgrade of our wastewater treatment plant.
Community-Focused and Effective Government is an area of focus that I am passionate about. We are embarking on a study of the forms of municipal government to see which is the best fit for Orem. Our current Council-Manager format may be the best, but we will start the process of evaluating the three other types to ensure Orem has the best. Watch for your opportunity to get involved in this process. In addition, we will continue to update and improve our Transparency Portal to ensure you are fully informed.
Our final area of focus is on a Skilled and Talented Workforce. The City of Orem has terrific employees, and we want to ensure we retain them and provide the best possible work environment so they can serve YOU, our Orem
family.
I’ll see you next month!
