The Daily Dispatch

The Wahpeton City Council reviewed their five 2009 goals Tuesday, revealing that to date they've made significant progress to a bold set of objectives.

Council members, along with city staff, set the goals in March at a retreat held at Hughes Shelter. The council set out to improve the city's infrastructure and flood protection, maximize the use of economic stimulus dollars, develop a city marketing plan, induce economic growth and improve the overall condition of the community.

Darcie Huwe, finance director, told the council 233 inquiries for business start ups have filed so far this year, which include renaissance zone applicants and other individual economic development prospects. The city has also sold four residential lots, one spec home and two industrial lots.

"So, although some things haven't seemed that public or that forthcoming there's a lot of activity and a lot of positive things going on," Huwe said.

Infrastructure and flood protection has seen the most progress, as the city currently has more than $6.4 million in open construction projects.

Wahpeton's levee system is currently on its way to completion, as it’s in stage 3A from Fifth Avenue South to Fifth Avenue North.

The Urban Roads Maintenance project is also taking place with numerous streets undergoing repairs. In addition, city staff is planning 2010's Dakota Avenue Reconstruction, south side drainage basin improvements and Safe Routes to School initiatives.

"Infrastructure and flood protection have had a very busy, and I think, progressive year," Huwe said. "We've got a lot of dollars invested and I think we're starting to see some return on investment."

Additional progress has been made in developing a marketing plan, which includes a combined effort to update the appearance and usability of Wahpeton's Web site. A film crew was in Wahpeton last week updating video for the site and city staff has been implementing input in terms of Web page content from council members and residents.

"We're still at the point where how much is too much and is the information on there the right information, but I think we've definitely had progress and improvement," Huwe said.

Improving the look of the community continues to be a concern for city officials too, as they've created and approved both the Dakota Avenue Appearance Program and the Downtown Design Manual.

In addition, the city has issued 142 building permits with a total valuation of $4.7 million and acquired and destroyed two severely dilapidated properties. Two additional properties are pending renovation and relocation.

Once the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed in February, city officials began to inquire about available stimulus dollars immediately. To date, they've been awarded more than $980,000. The majority of the funds, more than $800,000 was awarded to Wahpeton through the North Dakota Department of Transportation for street maintenance.

"As council people and as staff people this is pretty remarkable progress on some very aggressive goals," Huwe said.

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