City Notes: With the success of 2022, Westerville is ready to grow
There’s something inherently refreshing about the start of a new year. Whether you had to work during the holidays, could relax or are returning to routine after keeping pace with weeks of busy family activities, the blank slate of the months ahead offers the opportunity to think creatively about what could be.
If you’ve been in Westerville for any length of time, you may be familiar with the concept that our success as a community is the result of intentional, thoughtful planning and decision making. With this in mind, I am taking time to reflect on the accomplishments from 2022 that will set the stage for the new year.
The community reelected chairman Michael Heyeck, our longest-serving Westerville City Council member, and three new members. This new City Council has proven to be committed to digging deep, providing meaningful leadership and passing legislation to ensure Westerville’s future success.
Most importantly, City Council and staff formalized strategic priorities for the next five years structured around the goals of supporting a thriving business climate, an authentic and alive uptown, connected and engaged residents and safe and vibrant neighborhoods.
I’m proud to say that staff has hit the ground running with this roadmap in hand, ensuring each thing we do drives us closer to achieving a shared vision. I encourage all residents to review the city’s strategic plan at westerville.org/strategicplan.
Westerville further strengthened its commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). The launch of an online supplier-management portal bolstered the city’s database representing historically underserved or underrepresented vendors (including minority-owned businesses).
Additionally, we launched a monthly public-education initiative leveraging the City Hall courtyard, social-media platforms and website to amplify the stories of federally, state and locally protected populations. Our work in this space is not finished.
In the next year, we will develop a comprehensive framework that aligns with the aforementioned City Council priorities. Keep up with all things DEI in the city by visiting westerville.org/dei.
Residents responded in droves to the city’s many sustainability initiatives, including curbside recycling and drop-off food-waste composting programs. With this support, we released a strategic plan to help reduce materials sent from Westerville to the landfill by 80% by 2032.
This ambitious goal is achievable with a commitment to readily accessible programs, commonsense measures and continued community partnerships in the years to come. To find your place in this plan, visit westerville.org/zerowaste.
In the public-safety space, we celebrated the opening of the Westerville Justice Center at 229 Huber Village Blvd., which now holds the city’s police and Mayor’s Court operations. This new building provided the Westerville Division of Police (WPD) with much-needed space for training that is quickly becoming a regional asset.
We look forward to sharing with you the innovative ways WPD is using this space for the benefit of the community. The former Detective’s Bureau building (the post office at 28 S. State St.) was sold and will be redeveloped while the city shapes plans to unite customer-service operations in the buildings at 21 and 29 S. State St.
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In private development, we were excited to see new community assets take shape, including the CoHatch at 233 S. State St. and the mixed-use development at 280 and 290 S. State St. We even broke ground on a new neighborhood, “Towns on the Greenway,” which will provide much-needed housing options in the region.
If there’s one thing you take away from this message, it’s that Westerville is proceeding into 2023 committed to making thoughtful decisions that achieve growth where it matters most to residents and also protecting what we cherish about this community.
Transparency and trust are core to our success. I encourage you to visit our website to review the strategic plans and initiatives I’ve discussed in this column. Above all, I wish you a successful and happy new year.
Monica Irelan is the city manager of Westerville.
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: City Notes: With the success of 2022, Westerville is ready to grow
