Ted Ellis likes what he sees when he looks around Bluffton. Of course, he’s the mayor; he ought to.
Yet Ellis took some time to talk about what could be done, not just how good things are now.
Oh, there are plenty of good things — the mayor opened his remarks by saying “This is a great time to be alive! It is a great time to be alive in Bluffton!” — and he put forth a high-tech idea that he believes can make the city better.
In his State of the City address Thursday afternoon, Ellis — who has served five four-year terms as Bluffton’s mayor and is thus far unopposed in his bid for a sixth — wants to push the city ahead on its Internet connectability. Working in concert with AdamsWells Telecom TV and its fiber-optic network, he wants to make Bluffton Indiana’s first Gigabit City.
“Today, a robust broadband infrastructure is essential to our attracting and sustaining new businesses,” he said. “It also makes us more attractive to new residents.”
Speaking after his remarks, Ellis said as he understands it, a typical residential customer may have a 10mg connection to the Internet. A gigabit would be 100 times that amount of data.
“Very few of us will have need for such speed today,” he said. “However, those who do have such needs include those who are the drivers of economic growth.”
Working with AdamsWells, he said, it is possible that the Gigabit City idea could be in place by the end of 2015 — “making one-gigabit upload and download speeds accessible to anyplace within the city limits.”
Among other highlights:
• The city’s finances are “rock solid” with about $17 million in the bank. The city’s tax rate is still the lowest of any adjacent county seat.
• The “spec” building now under construction on Lancaster Street will “lure even more investment and more jobs to our area.”
• The Indiana Department of Transportation will open bids July 8 for the controversial reconstruction of South Main Street south of Spring Street, the much-needed resurfacing of Main Street between the Wabash River bridge and Spring Street, and the construction of the Interurban Trail that will link the pedestrian bridge over the river to the intersection of Main and Monroe streets.
“The best vantage point from which to view the start of these projects might be from the top of the Ferris wheel at the Street Fair,” he said.
• The Rivergreenway is being repaired and refinished with more than $152,000 raised — $31,902 of that in individual donations. “No wonder that the Chronicle of Philanthropy revealed that Wells was Indiana’s most generous county,” he said.
• The new YMCA is open.
• A $188,000 50/50 match grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior has made possible improvements at Roush Park.
• The Bluffton Parks and Recreation Department was named the state’s best in 2014.
• Wastewater plan improvements are being undertaken.
• The remains of the former Hideaway Bar have been removed, and the city’s first-ever building code is in place.
• A renewed effort to improve the city’s downtown, Bluffton NOW!, is at work.
“It is a great time to be alive in Bluffton,” Ellis said. “It is a time of great challenges, but also a time of great promise.”
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