Mayor Tautznik's Message:
On behalf of the people of Easthampton, welcome to the EasthamptonWeb it is our pleasure to serve you.
Easthampton is located in the fertile Connecticut River valley of western Massachusetts and is rich in the flavor of an industrial New England village. Having had the foresight to harness water power from the vast Mt. Tom watershed in the mid 1800's, Easthampton grew from a rural farming village to a vibrant industrial community.
Today our community continues to support a diverse mixture of industrial commercial and residential growth with an increasing effort to provide leadership and support for new economic initiatives. We are reinvesting in our traditional downtown area, planning for mixed use in our traditional mill district and expanding our efforts to attract new business and investors. The beautiful Nashawannuck Pond, located in the heart of downtown and along scenic Nonotuck Park, is the gem of a series of water bodies that attract many visitors to Easthampton. In the coming months we will be implementing a series of initiatives designed to enhance the possibilities for increased access to this natural attraction.
If you have any questions or comments about Easthampton or would be interested in additional information you may contact any of the departments included at this site or contact my office directly.
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2000 Annual Report of the Mayor
January 29, 2001
It has been just over four years since the citizens instituted a strong Mayoral form of government in Easthampton. In this short time we have validated the effectiveness of their decision and have proven the capacity of our community to work in mutual cooperation toward common goals and objectives. The dawning of a new century finds us involved in both the revitalization of the best of what we have become and eager to explore and execute the possibilities of what our city can be in the future.
The progress and success of local government can be measured in many ways. Some view the improvement of our schools and the protection of our natural resources as significant indicators of success. Others may believe that better business opportunities and greater private sector investments are the yardsticks by which we should measure progress. In addition, better public cooperation, grant-making skill, increased financial strength, consistent capacity for capital investment and improved delivery of services to our citizens are often cited as additional signs of the progressive and successful governance we have established. As we mark the year passed we are proud of the performance of our city and her citizens in all of these areas.
Cooperation is a hallmark in Easthampton and at Easthampton High School the vision of “Working Together Toward Excellence” was adopted to signify the uniform commitment of staff, students and administrators to that end. We are a community dedicated to the mission of our public schools, to work in unison with parents, children and the public at large to provide outstanding educational opportunities to all of our students. Over the past year we continued to make significant financial investments in our public schools and have increased operating budgets and allocated additional resources for needed building improvements system-wide. In addition, we have focused new and ongoing planning efforts in the quest to quantify the need for new school construction funding over the next five years. As a member and the facilitator of the School Futures Committee, I am committed to providing an effective forum for discussion of the long-range building needs of our school system. In the coming year this committee will provide its recommendations to the School Committee for the capital expansion and construction of additional classroom space in Easthampton. Whether new construction or significant modernization of existing school properties, our focus has and will continue to be in providing the best we can for the students in Easthampton.
The past year was also one of significant accomplishments in the preservation of the city’s natural resources and the protection of the natural heritage passed on to us by our predecessors. With assistance from local conservation organizations and the overwhelming support of citizens throughout the community, Easthampton’s effort towards the continued acquisition of key properties along the southern slopes of Mt. Tom continued to meet with success. In addition, our resolve to protect the aquifer that supplies our drinking water was fortified by my belief that the protective zoning density adopted by this community more than ten years ago is an important priority. Armed with the scientific proof that such an action would irrevocably endanger our public water supply, nearly two thousand registered voters petitioned the City Council to force the decision to a voter referendum. While the outcome of this vote is yet to be determined, the action spawned in response to this legislative decision has kindled a call to service and a rebirth of political activism in this sector of the community.
The year 2000 continued on the heels of previous commercial success with more than a dozen new small business starts and several significant expansions of existing business operations in Easthampton. In addition, two very important downtown buildings, the former municipal Fire Station on Union Street and the former Majestic Theater on Cottage Street, were sold to new owners. These two prominent properties have been purchased by successful fine woodworking artists, for use as retail and studio space for their respective trades. The substantial improvements promised by these new owners will provide additional support for our already strong business climate, and their active presence in the downtown heralds the continuation of private sector investment in Easthampton. Additional commercial and industrial expansion within the city provides very attractive opportunities for business growth. The open lines of communication that I maintain within the region continue to play a major role in our capacity to provide reinforcement to the efforts of the local business community.
We also continue to use grant funding to implement other projects that support our common vision of the future. The ongoing work to improve and restore Nashawannuck Pond was bolstered this year with a federal grant to assist in the implementation of needed drainage improvements. Remodeling and improvement of the Town Lodging House has been provided for with the proceeds from an affordable housing grant. My initiative to make additional public transportation service available in the community was aided with the award of a federal transportation grant, to introduce new flexible bus service to the community. In addition, the city strived to win competitive awards from the Community Development and Urban Self Help grant programs. These grants will fund projects and services to benefit local homeowners, young people, senior citizens and persons with disabilities across our entire community. In the past year the city received state and federal grants totaling nearly one and one-half million dollars.
In addition to grant funding, I utilize the implementation and funding of our five-year Capital Improvement Plan to achieve other common objectives. This year we dedicated more than two million dollars in capital spending for improvements such as neighborhood park and playground construction, school and municipal building renovations and other improvements such as new sidewalk construction, drinking water system expansion and increased sanitary sewer capacity. Finally, our long-held goal of consolidating municipal administrative operations was advanced this year with the approval and borrowing authorization for the purchase of an existing office building to house all city and school agency operations in a single location.
The year 2000 was truly one of great progress and success for the citizens of Easthampton. We advanced many initiatives to their logical conclusions and moved many others closer to being accomplished. We worked in cooperation with our peers in local government, and with our representatives in state and federal government agencies, to take full advantage of the opportunities available to us. As we look toward the fiscal challenges of the coming year I am confident that, by working together, we can continue to make Easthampton the best city it can be.
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