There's a lot happening in the city of Lima.
Mayor Sharetta Smith told us that she has five priorities for the city of Lima:
- Job Creation & Economic Development
- Youth, Recreation & Parks
- Maintaining City Services
- Safe & Livable Neighborhoods
- Quality, Affordable Housing
Mayor Smith says that in the past six months, the city has awarded eight grants for local businesses and the arts. "It was important for us to create these awards for small businesses because we wanted to recognize that small businesses are the backbone of our economy. A lot times what we're finding is they're one to two person mom and pop shops so the funding we're able to create goes a long way." She says the city is also investing capital into community infrastructure projects, and is developing wayfinding signage that will point out local attractions to those visiting the community. This will also include a large Lima sign for photo ops which will be placed downtown. For youth, the GenNext program is a workforce development and internship program focused on youth ages 16-24 who are not in college. The parks department is celebrating the recent groundbreakings for the $11 million Lima Community Aquatic Park which will be constructed near Lima Senior High and the Fitness Court located along the Ottawa River. The city also received a $1.6 million grant to make water infrastructure upgrades, floating solar panels are being installed at Twin Lakes Reservoir to help power the water plant, and improvements are being made to the streetscape along Central Avenue.
Also at Monday's meeting, we welcomed the Lima Rotary Club's newest member, Samantha Kerner, the Director of Sales at Springview Manor. Please make her welcome!
And we donated our second quarter Rottery proceeds in the amount of $601 to SAFY, which plans to use the money for its youth drop-in center. Thank you for your generosity!
