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Lockport Mayor Anne McCaffrey gave a status report Wednesday night to city residents, highlighting her efforts over the past six months.

The mayor's address, which she referred to as a "mid-year State of the City address," focused almost entirely on the city's fiscal issues, but also discussed the city's exposure in the limelight via Sharknado 2 and a recent Red Bull web clip, as well as the new contract with Twin City Ambulance, the upcoming dedication of the new Flight of Five and the city's sesquicentennial, which will occur in 2015.

She said that "better days are coming soon" and promised city residents to do all she could do to help pave their way.

The address is below in its entirety:

When I took office as your mayor a little over six months ago, I was faced with several serious challenges that required my immediate attention. I would like to take a moment to provide you with an overview of what occurred over the past six months, where our City is today and where we are going in the coming months.

My first task in office was to stop any reckless spending within City administration. We accomplished this by terminating the mayor’s credit card and by communicating to all department heads that expenses are only permitted if there is prior Common Council approval.

In conjunction with these spending controls, we enacted a new Code of Ethics with the purpose that “city officials and employees hold their positions to serve and benefit the public and not for obtaining unwarranted personal or private gain in the exercise and performance of their official powers and duties.” I believe that solid ethics are the cornerstone of good government and I am pleased that our new code clearly delineates ethical standards of conduct. Our new Board of Ethics has recently been formed and is in place to address any areas of concern that are presented to them. It is important to me – that the Mayor’s Office and the City of Lockport are run with the honor, ethics and integrity that the public expects.

Another tenet that we value is that city government should be open and transparent. In this vein, I have implemented some new measures to ensure that residents have access to city information. I provide a Mayor’s Update at every council meeting, I am regularly on WLVL and LCTV for interviews, I have monthly drop-in hours for residents who want to meet with me face-to-face and in the summer months I hosted “Walk a Mile with the Mayor every Monday.” I look forward to continuing to provide the community with many access points to city information.

Last February, our city was faced with, by all accounts, a rough winter that left us with the worst streets that most of us can ever remember. When the weather broke, we implemented an aggressive plan to mill and repave the most heavily traveled streets that were in the worst condition. In addition, city crews patched dozens of other streets. I would like to commend our streets crew for doing an excellent job. One resident summed it up to me when he said getting his street repaired was “like Christmas Day!”

Despite the city’s financial difficulties, this summer we were committed to opening the parks and community pool and having a grand parade and fireworks for the 4th of July. We developed a new plan to partner with non-profits to assist in serving our youth during the summer months and I am pleased to say that The Historic Palace Theatre, The Lockport Public Library and the YMCA stepped up and all provided services to city youth at no cost to the city. I cannot thank each of these organizations enough and I am hopeful that we can continue this collaborative spirit with our local non-profits and provide more to our youth for less.

Perhaps the most significant challenge facing the city currently is our fiscal difficulties. I, along with the Common Council, have seen that we need to change how we do business to stabilize the city’s fiscal dilemma. We have taken several unprecedented steps for our city to help achieve stability. One of these steps included advocating for legislation to allow us to borrow the necessary funds to pay off past years’ deficits. I am pleased that Assemblywoman Corwin and Senator Maziarz were able to assist us to get our legislation through both the Assembly and Senate so swiftly. In addition, I would like to thank Governor Cuomo for signing the bill into law and finalizing the process. This will allow us to pay off last year’s Revenue Anticipation Note and free up this year’s revenue for this year’s expenses.

Our 2014 budget is extremely tight. We have some areas of revenue and expenditures that we will continue to monitor watching closely. One area of the budget that we have been concerned about is Fire Department Overtime. This week we transitioned out of the ambulance business. Twin City Ambulance is here in the city and is tending to our residents’ ambulance needs. I want to thank the Fire Board, the Common Council, Chief Passuite, MTO Luca Quagliano, the Fire Department, Twin City Ambulance, Chief Eggert, and the Niagara County Sheriff’s Department who have all ensured a smooth transition. As of this past Monday, the city no longer is incurring the overtime costs associated manning the ambulances.

Another measure that we have taken this year to begin to address our fiscal challenges is our submission for assistance from NYS through the Financial Restructuring Board. This is a new process whereby a city in fiscal distress, like Lockport, can submit all financial, operational, contractual and demographic information to the State Board and if accepted, obtain recommendations for increased efficiencies. This may include grant funding to make changes in departmental operations. We will wait to see if our application has been accepted and if so, work closely with the Board to review and consider revamping city government to decrease costs and increase efficiency.

We know that we will be faced with difficult decisions in the coming weeks to reduce costs to get through the end of the year, and develop a balanced budget for 2015. In addition, we will have NYS Comptroller’s Office oversight over the budget development process as well as monitoring throughout the year. We will work closely with our budget team at Lumsden and McCormick to develop a budget that accurately reflects the revenue that we bring in and trims expenses to match that revenue.

Despite our challenges, we have so much to be proud of and excited about in our City.

In a few weeks, we will be hosting the Dedication Ceremony for the Restoration of Locks 69 and 70 of the Erie Canal Flight of Five. We are thrilled that the completion of the first phase is here. We have more work to do to complete the project and I am pleased to announce that a few weeks ago the WNY Regional Economic Development Council designated Phase II of the Flight of Five a Priority Project.

This confirms that regional leaders see the value and the draw that a completed project will have on the region. We are hopeful that the priority project designation will lead to future NYS funding for the Flight of Five. I think we sometimes take for granted the beauty of the Canal and the uniqueness of Lockport. I can say that visitors to Lockport don’t always take it for granted. We are fortunate to have caught the attention of the film and advertising industries.

Some of you may know that some scenes from Sharknado 2 were filmed in the Lockport Caves as well as a Red Bull video on You Tube. The Red Bull video is gaining popularity as it features professional wake skaters riding through the Erie Canal and Flight of Five – all here in Lockport. I will continue to keep in contact with our representatives at the Buffalo Film Commission who coordinate these films and help facilitate Lockport’s role on the big screen.

I have heard many people remark that downtown Lockport looks different – and it does. The behemoth of a parking ramp is down. 44 parking spots have been added to Pine Street and Main Street, which will make visiting, working and shopping in Lockport easier. And the view of the canal from Main Street is amazing. Just two blocks away, we have the finishing touches being finalized at the new Cornerstone Ice Arena. It has been exciting to see such a large construction project taking shape at the corner of Chestnut and Market. I believe that we have set the stage for additional development to follow. Between the tourism market and our sports and culture of the Ice Arena, the Historic Palace Theatre and the Kenan Center – we will continue to have more visitors coming to Lockport.

The year 2015 will mark the 150th our Sesquicentennial with a community party. More details will be coming but the focus will be to celebrate 150 years of innovation in Lockport. Lockport is a city with great historical significance and our Sesquicentennial is an opportunity to celebrate our history.

I know that despite our difficult fiscal challenges, Lockport will continue to become stronger. Our city was built on hard work, determination and resilience and that is exactly what we need right now. We will continue to make the difficult decisions today to lead to a better tomorrow. And I am proud to have the Common Council with me as we make these decisions and put Lockport back on the path to prosperity. I firmly believe that better days are coming soon and I promise that I will continue to devote all of my effort into making Lockport the success it once was.

Thank you.

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