I know, I know, it’s the New Year and everyone is ready to start something fresh as we begin 2015. There’s no denying that this will be an exciting year, but before we get to that, I want to reflect on and celebrate what was accomplished in 2014. After all, a lot happened last year, particularly with improvements to the local and regional economies; those developments definitely had a positive financial impact on Greeley residents as well as City government. Beyond that, we made significant strides in support of the City Council’s top four priorities: Safety, Image, Economic Health and Development, and Infrastructure and Growth.
Over the next few months I’d like to focus on some of our 2014 accomplishments in each of those top priority areas. Let’s look at the Safety priority first. When we talk about this area of local government we are primarily referring to public safety; that is, how we handle fire protection and suppression and crime prevention and enforcement.
Here are some statistics from the Greeley Fire Department that tell their story. The national average loss per capita due to fires is $30.70. Greeley’s fire loss for 2014 was just $6.15 per capita. That means Fire and Building Inspection personnel did an outstanding job with construction inspections, which help prevent fires and fire losses. And of course quick and effective response for fire suppression keeps this number low too.
The Greeley Police Department can also be extremely proud of its work. The department continues to clear crimes in numbers well above the national average and has also implemented brand new efforts to improve and increase recruitment of high quality police officer applicants. This is a solid police work and a foundation for good policing. The department now offers qualified applicants who do not have a peace officer license financial support for successful completion of the Colorado law enforcement academy. The successful candidate is also employed simultaneously by the City as a police cadet. This change in procedures resulted in over four times the usual number of applicants.
These are just a few of the many accomplishments achieved by City staff during 2014. Check back next month when I’ll talk about progress being made to maintain and improve Greeley’s infrastructure.
Roy H. Otto
City Manager