Unlock the secrets of urban transformation as Richmond's Mayor Ron Oler joins host Michael Allen and takes us through his impactful first year in office in Richmond. From his formative years of community service to leading the city council, learn how Mayor Oler’s leadership has reshaped city hall’s culture and steadfastly revitalized Richmond, especially its downtown. Get a glimpse of his strategic collaborations with various city departments and unions, all aiming to breathe new life into the city and tap into its potential.
Witness the metamorphosis of Richmond as we explore the redevelopment of the former Elder-Beerman site. Discover how strategic investments in urban development, including enhancements to the fire department and the smooth transition of historic sites, are setting the stage for market-rate housing projects that cater to the local workforce. Mayor Oler shares his vision for integrating these new developments with Richmond’s rich history, crafting a skyline that promises fresh opportunities while preserving the past.
Dive into Richmond's promising economic growth driven by new residential projects and significant grants like the one from the Lilly Endowment. We discuss the burgeoning opportunities for local businesses, from charming coffee shops to vibrant boutiques, and tackle transportation challenges head-on with innovative solutions like micro-transit. Tune in as we celebrate community engagement initiatives and share insights about exciting developments, including the Chester Boulevard bridge and the city’s new podcast, “Inside Richmond: The City's Pulse.” Join us in this conversation of progress and promise, and learn how Richmond is poised to shine brighter than ever.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Michael Allen from Manpower.
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Hello and welcome to the Hubpowered by Manpower of Richmond,
and I'm your host, michaelAllen.
And here on the Hub weinterview local leaders,
businesses, community partners,various special guests, and our
mission is to share localstories of companies,
(00:47):
organizations and people whohelp make a difference in our
community.
And today our guest isHonorable Mayor Ron Oler, mayor
of Richmond.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Thank you, michael, welcome, glad to be here Welcome
.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
You know people aren't going to know this, but
I'm still going to say it anyway.
We recorded this, uh in Januaryand we had a little uh problem
with our file and and uh, so wehave to come back and record
this today so so cause.
Our hope was to come back, causewhen you all, uh followers, uh
here, watch this, it's going tobe February, but we did this in
(01:23):
January.
It's like a kind of review of,uh, your first year in office
and so, but, uh, appreciate youcoming back and us doing this
again today and, uh, you knowit's already been a year since
you were sworn in the office anduh, so it's been, uh, it's been
(01:43):
a year You've been on the job.
Before I go into a question Ihave about that, though, as
normally on the Hub, and you didthis last year we ask about the
person's first job, and so yourfirst job was as a young man,
nine years old.
(02:04):
Dad put you out on a farm.
He did some farm work, so, uhand uh, kind of learned a lesson
about getting getting a checkand getting some money.
But uh, I guess that since wealready know that, I want to ask
you and I don't know if we'vetalked about this before what
was it that encouraged you to gointo public service?
(02:26):
You know when?
Your first time?
I don't know if it was, maybeit was when you ran for council,
or maybe you did something else.
So what, what was kind of, whatkind of motivated you to do that
?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
at that time Probably started back in high school
junior leaders.
So I've been involved inhelping my community since high
school in different aspects,finishing several college
degrees and working on my myfirst career.
I was encouraged to run forcouncil by someone who was on
council I'd worked with okay andI ran for council and won and
(02:58):
it was all about serving mycommunity.
So on council you're thelegislator, so you work on
ordinances, you work on thebudget, but it's really about
just local control and servingyour community and I thought I
really like this service.
And then, when it came around,three terms on council 12 years
and many, many, many years ascouncil president and Richmond
Power and Light board chair, Ireally enjoyed what we were
(03:20):
doing, enjoyed where I thoughtRichmond was heading.
And then I had a change incareers and I was sitting back
thinking about what I could donext to help my community and I
just felt called to run from air.
It was an absolute calling.
You know this is.
It's a job you you have to wantto do because it's it's.
It's not about making money, itdoesn't pay very well, but you
(03:41):
get to really help revitalizethe community and I saw Richmond
was on the cusp ofrevitalization, and this was
even before the RevitalizeRichmond program.
I saw what was happening in2022, 2023.
I said there's some potentialhere to really propel Richmond
forward and clean up downtown,bring your life back to downtown
and the different areas of thecity, and I just felt that I
(04:05):
should do this.
And the voters agreed with me.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So there we are well, yeah, I mean I appreciate your
uh years of service and and, uh,you know you've gone from you
mentioned legislator and nowyou're executive leader of the
city government and you knowhow's, how's the transition been
for you after a year.
I mean, hopefully the 12 yearsserving provided you some
(04:28):
advantages moving forward asmayor.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I'm sure it's been different.
It did so.
The mayor is executive of thecommittee, executive of the city
.
You have basically 12departments that work for you or
work with you.
So you have chiefs, assistantchiefs, police and fire and 10
other departments that you workwith and try to lead and manage.
And, having been on councilthat long, I understand the
roles of every department and Iknew where there's areas we
(04:53):
could fix some things and I knewsome, honestly, some department
heads I wanted to change firstday and I did so.
We brought in some new leadersand trying to change the culture
.
I knew some things that there'ssome things about the culture
inside city hall I didn't like.
So we've been working for 14months in now and trying to
change the culture.
Still got a little ways to go.
You know, you may or may notknow the city has four different
(05:15):
unions and that makes itinteresting.
It's because they have theirown perspective.
So council has an idea, mayor'soffice has an idea,
administration has an idea.
Mayor's office has an idea,administration has an idea.
Four different unions.
Sometimes we, we mesh, andright now we're really meshing
pretty good.
Good things are really goingreally well.
I'm very happy with everythingthat's.
(05:35):
We were moving the needleforward in richmond.
I'm happy with all the progresswe're making all around the
city, right, I'm sure?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
like a year ago, when you, you know, made some of
these changes in leadership andyou know, I mean, you had your
vision as leader, as mayor, thatyou things that you wanted to
do and, uh, the people agreedwith your vision because the
majority of people elected youinto office.
Yes and uh.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So, even though into office yes and uh so even though
there's going to be people thataren't happy with certain
changes that you make, you haveto kind of stay committed to the
vision, yeah, that you've thatfollow the path that's set
before me every day yeah, I meanevery day I wake up, I pray, do
a little bible study and followthe path that's set before me
(06:25):
and the path and the vision Ihave for the city of
revitalizing it, convincingpeople to move back here, people
to live here, people to openbusinesses here, people to take
a chance on Richmond like theyused to in the past.
Richmond's back and we have somany cool opportunities and
we're going to talk about somemore stuff coming up in a minute
.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, I did have kind of a listof things that I wanted to go
over with you and, uh, one of it, one of the issues, uh topics,
was, uh, something that happenedprior to you becoming an office
.
It was the uh, the northwest ffire.
That where the old hofcobuilding was, and there was also
(07:04):
a recycling business there, andhad an unfortunate fire there.
That was, uh, uh, not what anyof us would have wished for.
So, so, so kind of what.
What's an update on that?
What's going on for that pieceof property and the cleanup and?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
well, that was one of the things I was most
encouraged about my first year.
It was just a few months, inapril last year, when the epa
handed the keys back so itbecame a epa brownfield cleanup
site.
So they invested almost fourmillion dollars clean it up and
by handing the keys back theysaid now you can finish doing
some remedial work.
And some of that work is stillongoing.
There's still some testingdoing, but I'm really excited.
(07:42):
We have several businesses whoare interested in purchasing
that and getting it back on thetax, generating tax revenue
again.
And I talked to the neighbors.
You know it was.
It was an industrial site andI'm advocating for more of a
commercial use and the twocompanies local companies right
now are looking at is more of acommercial use, not industrial,
not manufacturing.
You're too close to housing soyou know housing grew up around
(08:05):
it.
A lot of old cities like this.
Housing grows up around themanufacturing and you're kind of
stuck with something that couldbe dangerous next to where you
live and that's not ideal.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Right, you can go.
There's different parts of onthe north side, south side of
Richmond, where there'sindustrial buildings that were,
you know, really kind of vibrantemployers, way back, way back
in the day.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I look at the Gorge Park and, I think, the old
Richmond and the Germantown.
There were stairs going downthe gorge off of first street
and they're still there for theworkers building those pianos at
the Star Piano Factory andGannett Records.
They actually live right at thetop of the hill and walk down
to work every day.
That was common.
So there's a.
There's a lot of interestinghistory around richmond like
(08:51):
that so there's a.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
there was a lot of costs associated with that
cleanup, yes and um, but if Iunderstood you correctly, the
epa came in and they put inabout $4 million.
Yes, and that didn't come at acost to Richmond.
That was just part ofNationwide taxpayer pay for that
.
Yeah, everybody pays in andthat's part of what they do.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
There were some chemicals, there were some
things there that theyidentified.
That said, we need to cleanthis up.
We can't leave it to the cityto do it.
It shouldn't be the city'sburden because there's some
environmental issues, but wehave spent quite a bit of money
our own money when they left.
When the EPA left, there wasthese pits, the old loading
ramps and stuff.
One of them is 12 feet deep andwe know that, even though it's
(09:37):
a restricted site and you shouldnot trespass, we know what boys
and girls will do sometimes.
So we spent like $88,000putting aggregate in there.
The city did out of our ownmoney just to fill those pits in
those areas so there would notbe a place where a child could
ride their bike at night withoutlights and suddenly crash down
into a concrete pit.
So the city has invested a lotof money in that rental fence.
The city pays for the rentalfence.
(09:58):
Epa didn't do that, so we'repaying for that.
There's still an area that hasrental fence around it that's
not yet finished cleaned up.
That's some of the property wedon't own and also around the
old boiler that was never reallytaken out.
So we decide to sell it when wecome to an agreement with.
Whichever business buys it,we'll determine on who's taking
the old boiler out and fillingthat pit in.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That'll be part of the purchase price agreement so
when the city has an unbudgetedexpenditure like that, I mean
that that I mean the city didn'tset fire to that, I mean so it?
So really it wasn't it wassomething that happened, that
what really wasn't the city'sfault, but now we're having to
(10:39):
pay for it and it wasn'tsomething budgeted.
Or maybe it comes from a fundfor an emergency fund.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
It comes from the emergency fund.
There's two things there's arainy day fund, but there's also
a blight fund for demolishingbuildings and properties.
That we put quite a bit ofmoney into each year and some of
that came from that and somewill come from rainy day,
fortunately.
$88,000 is a lot of money, butit really isn't a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So better days ahead for that property, better days.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I'm excited, so hopefully we're waiting on some
new reports, or some will stillsome.
They call it further sideinvestigation.
So once that's back and deemedit safe to build something on
and we'll be happy to put it upfor sale and sell it to the
highest offer.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
And when that sells, we'll get some of our money back
.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Maybe not all of it, but we'll get some some of the
money back and I'll go back intothat fund for the next rainy
day.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
One of the campaign topics before you came into
office was public safety.
Yes, give us an update on that.
As far as the police departmentand what's going on there, and
anything, anything else relatedto public safety.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
We did.
We focused heavily in 2024 onpublic safety.
That was an area that Ipromised to work tirelessly on
and we have.
We were able to purchase arecord number of police cars in
2024, and we hired more officers, and we're still hiring
officers.
But things are going reallywell in the police department
and you've had the policedepartment on here, or you
should.
(12:06):
They're the PAC division,police and communities together.
We're about community policing.
We have an expanded trafficdivision.
We have expanded enforcement.
We have an internal spreadsheet.
Now, when somebody reportsthere's a vehicle parked that
may be abandoned, that we havethree different departments look
at it and keep track of it, andwhose responsibility is it?
Is it a police departmentresponsibility?
(12:27):
Is it code enforcement?
Is it planning?
Because you know if it's on thestreet, if it's on the driveway
, if it's on the grass.
So we're sharing thisinformation in all three
departments instead of peoplerunning around.
We just got the report and say,hey, checked out this vehicle.
So we're collaborating betterthan I think the city ever has.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
If I once, some of the development continues to
happen in our downtown area andI guess I'm thinking I guess
anywhere from maybe 5th Streetup Main Street all the way as
far as I don't know, maybeMcDonald's where that's located.
(13:05):
If I were to ask the chief ofpolice about what would his
thoughts be about havingofficers that are actually on
foot and going, you know,working that area where I
remember we used to have someofficers that were on bicycles.
They still have the bicycles,yeah, I just always thought that
(13:27):
that area could use a littleTLC or a little bit more
positive interaction with lawenforcement all through that
area.
And it would in my mind andthere's probably other reasons
maybe why it would or wouldn'twork, but I always thought that
would be a really good area tohave more of a interactive law
(13:47):
enforcement presence in thatstretch.
I mean, what are your thoughtsabout that when?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
there are events downtown, you'll see officers on
foot.
With meltdown festival lastweekend, a lot of officers on
foot walking around.
So when there's lots of peopledowntown they do that.
But on the regular patrol wewant the officer to be at their
vehicle with all their equipment.
We don't want to be far fromtheir vehicle.
So, yes, they could park it andwalk around a building and
they'd do that, but untilthere's an actual event we don't
(14:13):
really want them that far fromtheir cars.
But they do patrol it.
We have a district, everybodyhas a district, and they have a
patrol area and they keep an eyeon it.
I want to mention the firedepartment too.
We focused on the firedepartment heavily.
Last year too, you may havenoticed, on the west side of
town we built that large storyfacility between Station 5.
There was some equipment thatused to sit outside and we set
(14:33):
aside some monies to build that,to get some equipment indoors,
so it'll last longer longevity.
So in my mind you make acapital investment on something
so that operationally,throughout the years it lasts
longer and that initialinvestment really pays off in
the long run.
And everything I'm doing hereis for the long run, for the
long view.
So the fire departments add tosome policies, procedures or
(14:53):
keeping better inventory oftheir ems equipment and all the
supplies they use.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
They're really, really keeping control of that,
keeping a good eye on that, sothere's not any waste when we
first uh sat down, we weretalking about the former elder
pyramid site and there were um.
They were still doing a lot ofcleanup there and but today, if
we were to walk over there, we'dsee a pretty clean slate right
(15:20):
now yes and uh.
So, um, I know there's a lot ofsentimental thoughts for some
people about that building beinggone and the year shopping
there at the elder baron, whichwas a long time you know retail
space that people worked at andpeople bought uh goods, uh from.
But you know, now it's justtime to move on and uh so tell
(15:44):
us tell us about that site andkind of what's going on with it.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I had mixed emotions with it because that was the
first escalator I rode as a kidand I think the sweater probably
came from there because theyjust closed six years ago.
So six years ago when Bond Timewent bankrupt and the whole
shopping experience was changingnationwide, it wasn't anything
the city did, it's just retailwas just changing.
The city and county tookcontrol of that building and had
(16:11):
a three-year plan on how toredevelop it and we had two
different developers whose planscame and went and weren't
really viable.
And the latest developer camewith the idea of demolishing the
building and putting in marketrate housing, which is something
we know we need from all of ourhousing studies.
We have housing studies andworkforce studies.
We know we have about 12,000people that work in
(16:32):
Richmond-Wayne County that don'tlive here and 8,000 of those
commute here every day toRichmond-Wayne County.
In my mind I guess the other4,000 are remote workers.
So that site has a lot ofhistory or remote workers.
But so that that site has a lotof history.
The building that's leftstanding sweet blessings, the
bakery slash restaurant that'sthere now.
That's the first building tosurvive this explosion in 1968.
(16:53):
So it was important to savethat.
But, yes, mixed emotionstearing it down.
We thought we could repurposeit but it was a hundred thousand
square feet of concrete andstill with no windows.
It's purposely built that wayand it was really hard to
redevelop it.
And this developer came in andwith some of the Earlham Lilly
funds and Ready 1.0 match fundswe were able to demolish it and
(17:15):
see a new purpose for it on thecorner.
So it's changed the wholeskyline.
So now when you cross thebridge by the courthouse the
skyline's changed and soon whenconstruction starts you know by
the end of 26, 27, it'll lookquite a bit different again.
They'll start construction thisspring.
Right now they're doing thegeotech work.
You know they've got to checkthe foundations and footers and
(17:35):
is that part stable, whereexactly we put stuff.
And that's starting now thegeotech.
But they're demobilizing theirequipment.
The company that did thedemolition finished weeks ahead
of schedule.
So they don't have a deadlinereally to move the last of their
excavators.
They're just waiting until thenext demolition site and they'll
move it to that.
They're out of Cincinnati.
They did a great job.
(17:55):
They were so easy to work with.
We did a skywalk.
We went to the Board of Worksand got permission to close that
for a week, not knowing whichday, based upon the weather, it
would close, and 7th Street wasclosed for two hours.
That's all it took to getSkywalk down, because it's a
very experienced company.
We were really blessed witheverything they did and they
really worked with thebusinesses to make sure they
(18:16):
weren't closed over Thanksgivingand everything worked out
really well.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
So, as you see, now it's dirt, it's ready, so soon
construction will start andit'll really really change yeah,
I was really impressed at therate that they were able to work
on that project and really insome weather that wasn't that
great right but they just werestuck with it and uh it just
seemed like, uh, very neat, veryclean, clean the existing
(18:45):
buildings you mentioned, likeSweet Blessings and Phillips,
and there's some demolitionaround that site.
What are they going to do withkind of trying to dress up those
properties that are remaining?
Because, like Sweet Blessings,I mean that was right up the
(19:05):
city and county got togetherlast mean, that was right up.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So do the city and County got together last year in
that help grant program that alot of businesses qualified for.
That's one of them.
So they have resources to makethat wall look more attractive,
because the design of the newapartment complex there'll be a
gap between the buildings andthat's kind of their dog park
area.
So the side of that West sideof their dog park area, so the
side of that west side of thesweet blessings buildings will
be dressed up and made morepresentable for the people
(19:30):
living there.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, and it'll stabilize it and bring back some
of the rich history that thatbuilding has so the when we,
when we mentioned market ratehousing now I think I know what
that means.
Maybe our followers, they don't.
That means that it may be ourfollowers, they don't.
That means that that what ifyou and I were to move there?
Yes, what we pay in rent isgoing to be based upon, uh, uh,
(19:56):
whatever the going market rateis for that kind of apartment or
whatever.
Not any money that is basedupon your income or subsidized
by the government or anythingCorrect.
So it's not.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Not section eight housing, not subsidized housing.
So market rate forprofessionals.
So they're finding, when theybuild these all around the state
and actually around the countrynow, that they get a lot of
young professionals but they'regetting even more empty nesters
now.
So by market rate means thatit's luxury apartments with all
kinds of amenities and thecompany that's building this,
flarendon Collins, they maintainownership and they maintain
(20:29):
management.
They don't hire outsidemanagers.
Those are their employees inthere and they're dedicated to
keep the building nice andworking with local contractors,
local cleaning companies, localagencies to to maintain it to a
superb level.
Cause they're there, they, theycharge a premium price and
you'll look at the price and say, well, I can rent an apartment
downtown for less than that.
Yes, you can, but you won't getyour fitness gym included, you
(20:53):
won't get your bicycle warehouserepair shop included, you won't
get your dog spa included, youwon't get your community room
included, you won't get yourswimming pool included.
So all that stuff is in thereso people can live there, work
there, and we don't haveanything like that in Richmond.
They're common aroundIndianapolis, south Bend, fort
Wayne, so this is the first timewe've had something like that
(21:14):
in Richmond.
All amenities are on site.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So, yeah, the price may seem high, but when you say
your gym membership's included,this is included, that's
included, it really isn't highyeah, my son lives in a
community in illinois that's, Iwould say, similar to richmond
and their downtown area, andthey built in a complex similar
like, I think, what we're goingto have, and, uh, you know, I
saw them build it and fill itand it seems to be a real, uh,
(21:41):
vibrant part of now that, uh,their downtown area and uh.
So I've seen that in like whatyou've talked about,
indianapolis, but I've also seenit in, maybe some smaller
communities and I'm encouraged,uh, not spend too much more time
on it, but how many, uh do you?
I know that plans aren'ttotally done or maybe they are,
(22:02):
but how many units are wetalking about or are, or are?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
they talking about.
It didn't bring it with me, butI think it's 150.
There's an article in a paperthat had all the details from a
presentation a few weeks ago.
150 apartments ranging from onebedroom to two bedroom plus a
den, which my mind's threebedroom, but yeah, so different
sizes different price which mymind's three bedroom, but yeah.
So different sizes, differentprice points, and it's
interesting that the ones on thefacing the North over the main
(22:28):
street, we'll have these littlebalconies you can walk out on.
So I envision people out there.
We'll have our holiday paradegoing through here and no people
be out there on their balconywatching the parade and other
things happening on main street.
So it'll be different lifestylethan we ever had here.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Right, pretty cool and I think with if we have over
a hundred different residentsin that area, this definitely
has the potential to spur a lotof economic growth in the
downtown businesses, because nowthey'll have a captive audience
there's tops and retailers talk.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Some more coffee shops coming, grocery store
coming.
Everybody's kind of waiting.
So there's, a lot of things inthe works.
Once the apartments are done,they start leasing, things will
just pop up.
Boutique shops will come backand I've talked to different
people the farmer's market whoare interested in opening
physical stores here once we getmore people living downtown.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Well, it'll be interesting, i'd'd say the 18 to
24 months from now, to see howthat all evolves and and uh
works out.
Uh, talk, we spoke.
You spoke a little bit about amoney.
I I wanted to mention the Lillyendowment grant, earlham
college.
Uh, that's something that moneyis right, they're spinning up.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, they're spinning that up.
They received that $25 milliongrant from Lillie endowment for
revitalize Richmond communitypartnership.
A lot of properties downtown werevitalize.
From that, ownership Hands willchange.
Different apartments, differentamenities will come, different
commercial space will come.
So that that whole campaign ofbuild, connect and activate and
(24:01):
there's some stuff in there forthe gorge park too is is led by
earlham college, so you reallyneed to check out their website,
revitalize whichman, and theyhave podcasts and other programs
that you can follow on x andfacebook.
So they're always talking aboutthe things that they're doing.
So they, they really controlthat.
The city doesn't really havemuch to do with it other than
(24:22):
helping them along and pushingalong, so I just had this
question kind of pop in my mind.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
We didn't talk about it last time, but I mentioned
that area from 5th Street up to,let's say I said, mcdonald's.
Is there a building, a piece ofproperty up on going down Main
Street that hasn't really beenpurchased yet or not set up?
(24:48):
Has some plans yet, somepositive plans, that you wish
something could be done withthat building?
Is there one that can you thinkof?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
one there's one that it's not in any of our plans,
and they had a small fire theretwo weeks ago from some homeless
people living inside.
It's marked as Burt's SewingCenter and it was Main Street
Grill, so there's basically twobuildings together there.
Okay, so I don't even know whoowns it, so I'm not dissing the
owners or anything, but Ihaven't heard of any plans for
that building and I'd like tosee something come back in there
(25:19):
, because the front facade iskind of interesting and there's
a brick there, so something goodcould come of that.
So I hope the owners areplanning on something, but it's
not part of any of our plans.
Almost every other building,even the old bank across the
street I look at now, is inlocal hands.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, that's great.
That second National Bankbuilding is really kind of a
unique building that secondnational bank building is really
kind of a unique building andmy father-in-law, um, passed
away several years ago now andhe was um.
A lot of people would stillremember him Ken Bain.
He was president of secondnational bank and then there are
many years and I remember goingin that bank and just always in
(25:55):
all of that building and I hopewe can find something really
unique to go in there and kindof preserve the architectural
interior of that building if yougo around.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I've gone around since one of my jobs as mayor is
to go meet with other mayorsand we talk about good, the bad,
the ugly and the positives, andI see a lot of banks like that
are converted into steakhousesand other venues, so I'm hopeful
that some entrepreneur willpick it up like that?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah, I hope so.
It would be really cool.
We have Revive I-70.
That's ramping up, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
So Revive I-70, if you don't know, revive I-70.com.
They have their own website.
That's that plan to rebuild 21miles of Interstate 70 from the
Ohio line all the way to StateRoad 1 and make it three lanes
in both directions, although thecosts have come in more
expensive than they thought.
So 10 years ago when NDOT hadthis plan they thought it would
(26:52):
cost about $400 million.
When they let out the firstphase, which is Highway 40 to
Highway 35, that alone was $400million.
So they've let out the secondand third phase.
So the first phase will stillbe.
From ohio line to 35 will stillbe three lanes in both
directions, and the rest of itwith 21, 42 bridges and culverts
.
They'll build theinfrastructure for three lanes
(27:14):
in both directions but they'renot going to build the actual
three lanes just yet.
They'll wait for another roundof funding in the future.
So it'll be ready for six lanesall the way through the county
but at least for the the city'sfour exits we'll have six lanes
and that'll help the industrialpark.
There's more expansion going onour industrial park between
highway 35 and centerville roadand round barn road down
(27:34):
industries road.
There's.
There's more, hopefully somemore projects coming.
Liberation labs is restarting,blue buffalo's finishing their
expansion, so there's there,hopefully, some more projects
coming.
Liberation Labs is restarting.
Blue Buffalo is finishing theirexpansion, so there's some more
stuff in the wind that shouldbe coming there soon.
Yeah, liberation.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Labs there on the docket.
They're going to come in andtalk to us here in about a month
or so.
That's an interesting product.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, absolutely, so many uses for it.
Stay tuned followers.
Yeah, that'll be fun to watchproduct.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So many stay tuned followers.
Yeah, that'll be fun to watch.
Uh, the isep.
I guess I should be thankfulwe're going to get something.
I would like to see it at leastthree lanes, all the way to one
, but it doesn't sound likethat's at least gonna build the
infrastructure, but for nowthey're only going to build the
third lane.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
So 35, but that's I mean that's it's more than we've
had oh yeah, no, no, for yearsI was concerned.
They're building the six lanesfrom from you know mount comfort
greenfield hancock county.
When are they going to comeover here?
And I was excited when they'regoing to stop there and start
building this direction, becauseinterstate 70 from richmond,
indianapolis, is the nextindustrial park yeah, that crowd
in indianapolis.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
They owe us big time.
They've got to start bringingsome money over here, because
we've got a great community andthey need to open up the purse
and bring the money over here.
Hey, the I-70 thing kind ofgoes into a little bit of the
rebranding.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
The city of Richmond, and one thing that you
mentioned was to try to out on70.
Well, I'll let you talk aboutit.
Build something out there thatreally helped draw in the public
.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
When I had my first meeting with NDOT February of
last year my second month inthey talked about the Revive
I-70 and what they're doing.
So at Highway 40, the firstexit coming into Indiana from
Ohio, we have the opportunity toput some nice monumental
signage there.
There's this historic committee, I found out, for if you travel
along any interstate in Indianayou'll see monument signs for
(29:30):
every major community that aremade of limestone, which Indiana
is famous for, brick and steel.
So we have the opportunity tobuild something there and I say
we have the opportunity becausethey will build the base for it
and run some electric for it.
But we have to pay for it andmaintain it.
So we have to find half amillion to a million dollars to
build this huge monument thatsays Welcome to Indiana, the
crossroads of America.
(29:51):
Exit now and spend your money.
Come into Richmond, historicRichmond.
So the part of the rebranding isgoing to give us a name.
So we've looked at some signlogos and a lot of them have.
We could put Richmond there andthen your tagline underneath.
So we don't really have a goodtagline right now.
So in my office actually myassistant's office we have about
five different logos that thecity's using a different
(30:11):
department.
So rebranding is going to getus all back together and get us
one logo, one sense of who weare.
So there'll be communitymeetings coming up soon.
We want community input.
We're not doing this.
City administration isn't doingthis.
We're organizing the people ina group to this.
So you have some really goodconsultants who have rebranded
cities our size all across theMidwest.
They have a lot of goodexperience and we're lucky to
(30:33):
have them.
They come next week and we do awindshield tour with them.
So we've already awarded thecontract, but they've been here
a couple of times.
But we have a windshield tourthat they're going to see all
the historic districts ofRichmond and kind of get a feel
of this side of Richmond, thatside of Richmond, that side of
Richmond industrial, commercial,residential, restaurants,
history, architecture, music,just parks, everything about
(30:56):
Richmond.
And then we'll get input fromthe citizens too and come up
with a brand of what isRichmond's new tagline, our logo
, and we'll use it.
We'll incorporate it in everydepartment.
We'll use this on all theirbrochures, their social media,
their mail.
Everything's going to be onecohesive city with this new
brand for a couple of decades tocome.
(31:18):
So this monument or this signagestill to be determined still to
be determined, but that's goingto be still to be determined.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
So is.
Are we going to see thatheading going from west to east,
going from east to west whenyou're coming from ohio as soon?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
as you can see past shelton fireworks.
You'll be able to see this onthe right-hand side.
They've already identified thespace when they rebuild those
ramps and do that ramp.
So it'll be inside this area.
One of the great things NDOT'sdoing now is they're allowing
the city to choose the plantsand the trees.
So our parks department hassome really skilled arborists
(31:56):
and florists in thebeautification team.
They were able to pick out whattrees, what plants, what
grasses go in there and it'll bereally nice.
Right now it's just you knowwhat, whatever bushes grow up
and grass yeah, and we'llactually maintain it, so it'll
look like a really developedintersection and people go.
There's something here inrichmond.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I got to exit yeah, well, I hope we can compete with
the solar panels, the, the hugewhite cross and the uranus
fudge factory as you come intown so we're gonna have to
really work hard.
Yes on this monument becausethere's a lot going on at that
exit, so hopefully, uh, itdefinitely be a a thing of
(32:34):
beauty as they enter from theeast into our grand city.
Uh, anything else on therebranding, you know, as we not
really, rebranding, but thatleads us into our comprehensive
plan refresh.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
So, okay, one of the reasons we're starting
rebranding now is ourcomprehensive plan is five years
old.
Richmond rising, which was a,which is a great logo and a
great tagline, but it was neveradopted by all the departments,
so but it's five years old.
So Richmond Rising is fiveyears old and you have to have a
refresh comprehensive planevery five years or you don't
qualify for certain grants fromthe state and federal government
(33:06):
.
You can't have a six-year-oldplan.
So we're going to go through arefresh process.
As soon as rebranding gets wellunderway and almost finished,
the comprehensive plan refreshwill start, and that'll be a
chance for people to have someinput too.
So Richmond Rising had severalareas of focus and some of those
things were accomplished andsome were, and some that weren't
(33:26):
were because of COVID thisthing.
Covid happened and peoplestarted working from home more
than ever.
So really, the things that wethought we wanted to do six
years ago we don't want to donow, because shopping's changed.
The whole landscape of the wayconsumers interact with their
cities changed.
So now's an opportunity.
We're actually at a really goodtime.
It's good that it's five yearsold, because we had a really
(33:47):
good time to look at it and gowhat is?
What do we want to do with thisarea of town, what do we want
to do with that area of town,what should the focus be here
and what do the citizens want?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
right, so we're moving on from richmond rising
something else.
Yes, yeah so yeah, richmond'sliving, richmond's doing.
I mean, you know when, uh when,when Jesus raised Lazarus from
the grave.
I mean that was a, that was aone, uh, a wonderful, uh,
miracle, and.
But after a while, I meanLazarus still had things to do
(34:17):
after he was back alive.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
So it's like Lazarus living.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
What's Lazarus doing today?
So it would be great to seewhat comes of the new slogan or
the new theme.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
We're not doing this in a vacuum.
In 2023, there were 53 newmayors elected in the 83 cities
in Indiana that have mayors, anda lot of those did that last
year.
They did their rebranding lastyear.
We waited to see which onesworked really well and which
ones we liked, and we startedinterviewing those companies and
came up with what we think willbe the best of the best, and
(34:53):
we're actually paying half theprice of what some others pay
because they went too early.
So waiting is fullness.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
If you wait, you can get a better price how are you,
um, how are you working with theuh county government?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I mean, how, how's that?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
relationship with the commissioners and county
council, or I mean they kind ofhave their things that they're
involved in, but they're also,you know, richmond's a big part
of wayne county, yes, and wehave other.
Wayne county's a big part ofwayne county, yes, and we have
other wayne county's a big partof richmond.
Yeah, and we have other wepartner communities that are
very important to the whole, ourwhole county.
(35:29):
But how?
How does richmond uniquely workwith the council?
Is there anything going onthere or just kind of?
Speaker 2 (35:36):
well, you know operating procedures.
I think most people know wepartner with them for 911
dispatch.
So they have the equipment,they have the staff.
We pay for half of that.
So it's one of our hugepartnerships.
So the mayor sits on theemergency management agency
board and some several otherboards over there.
The mayor sits on, and alsoRichmond Fire and Police sit on
other boards and communicateregularly about what we can do
(35:58):
better.
So some of the things we can'treally join forces on.
One good example you know wemight get some more snow and ice
next couple of days.
Richmond has storm sewers.
We have to use salt on ourroads because we have storm
sewers.
We want it to melt and not jamup the storm sewers.
The county does not, so theycan use sand and gravel at their
intersections, which just runsoff the side of the road.
(36:20):
We can't use sand and gravelbecause it would clog the storm
sewers and cost us more in thelong run.
So that's kind of.
One of the things we reallycan't share is how do you treat
ice?
It's just one of the funnyanecdotes that are out there.
Just because of the way yourstructure is, you can't share
what we try to share.
I have meetings with my like.
There's a full-time president,a full-time commissioner is a
president of commissioners, jeffplaster.
(36:42):
We meet pretty much weekly andwe talk probably every other day
about different things, thingswe can collaborate on and work
together on and try to solveproblems together and on and try
to solve problems together andand the, the county, the help
grant, the, the state dollars,the, the arpa funds, the state
help funds through the county tobenefit all the county and even
city richmond.
(37:02):
So that comes from the federalto the state to the county and
then we work together to helprevitalize downtown richmond
with some of those help dollars.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I live out in the county, so I have a Richmond
address.
But full disclosure I did notvote for you because I can't.
But I'm out there and theadmission to Rhodes, so we have
paved roads where I live but itis a dirt and gravel road for
(37:34):
about four months out of theyear and I just hate it because
they just dump.
If the county street departmentor road department is listening
, just go a little bit light.
They do a great job.
I'm just joking.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
But I mean, man, there's a lot.
They do that because it'scheaper.
We pay a lot of money for saltsalt is a lot more expensive
than the sand and the gravelthey get spread on the
intersection.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
They come out and clean it up every spring, but
man, it's, it's kind of brutal.
Especially we had that big snowthis year.
So you know they, they're outthere in full force with, with
this dropping the sand out onthe roads.
So enough of that.
Um, one thing I want to talkabout a little bit is just
because I deal with it in my job, so transportation.
(38:20):
So from my experience atmanpower, I can share that one
of the biggest impediments toemployment is transportation and
, uh, most of our manufacturinggrowth.
We hit it on earlier.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
We're not building factories within the city, we're
going out on the edges in theindustrial park, kind of the way
.
We should just, for the reason,just take that fire as an
example.
No, I agree with that weshouldn't build up residential
around industrial parks.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
But what that the result of that is.
You know, most of our growth ison the peripheral of the
community and we do not havegood public transportation to
those sites.
So therefore there areliterally there's this one guy I
interviewed last week and agreat guy but just doesn't have
(39:06):
a car, and I really think thisguy would make a good employee
for a company, but he wants toget into manufacturing and we're
just waiting to find somethingthat he can ride his bike or or,
uh, walk to, because thetransportation is a challenge
for him one of the go out tothese other areas where there's
no taxi, cab or bus service.
(39:28):
So, you know, that is um, that'sjust tough, you know, and I
wish there was something that wecould do to help these folks.
We're working on it.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
We started.
One of the things I startedthat was a conversation I had
with a lot of businesses lastyear and I said what?
Can we do to fix this.
So we're looking at.
So you know, we have RoseviewTransit, which you may or may
not know is federally funded andit has to just stay on the
lines.
It has to have these documentedlines and stay on the lines.
They can't go to the industrialparks for a lot of reasons you
(39:55):
have to have sidewalks, you haveto have buses.
It's weird rules.
But there's a new form oftransportation called
microtransit and we're watchinga city in Indiana who adopt the
DIS model and if they can makeit work and self-funded so that
it's not a cost to taxpayers.
Microtransit is a smaller bus ora van that's pretty much on
(40:17):
demand.
That'll take, that'll pick upat 530 in the morning.
There's five calls that need togo to a factory industrial park
.
It'll go around theneighborhoods pick them up and
take them out there on demandbecause it's a van, not a
federal bus, not a federaltransit administration bus is a
micro transit van.
So we're working with thiscompany that does this and we're
(40:38):
watching this one particularcity in Indiana who implemented
it last year and see now it'sworking there because because
we're going to adopt it when weknow it works and how it works
and we'll let them work out thewrinkles, we'll let them work
out the bugs and the wrinklesand when we do it it'll, it'll
work and it'll be affordable.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
It's got to be affordable and you just can't
flip a switch and have a programlike that go in place.
But I'm glad to hear that weare thinking of that, because I
can attest that that is a hugeneed in our community, because
we work with a lot of people whoare who are unemployed or trans
, just transitioning from onejob to another, and that just,
(41:19):
uh, tends to be an ongoingchallenge.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
If you're an entrepreneur out there, sign up
for Uber, sign up for Lyft.
We know there's demand andthere are a couple of taxi
services back but they don'twork all hours.
So if you have a vehicle andyou want to make some extra
money you mentioned the firstpart of the show my first side
hustle.
Nine years old, I was helpinganother farmer.
My dad sent my brother and I towork for another farmer to help
(41:43):
him bell hay because his sonwas injured, and at the end of
the week I got a paper check andI'm like I thought I was
getting paid, but we took it tothe bank and I started a savings
account.
So I'm telling this to otherentrepreneurs there's an opening
there and there's a way for youto make a little money on the
side if you're willing to get upearly and stay up a little late
after your regular job.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Right now, if you take a cab to work it's going to
cost.
If you go to work five daysit's going to you a hundred
dollars for the week.
Pretty much yes and uh.
So I guess if you take thattimes four it's 400.
Maybe you can't buy a car for400, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Um uh right, there's economic choices, so yeah, it's
just tough.
Hopefully we'll get this microtransit working, which will be
very affordable because it'sbasically a I don't't want to
call it a government ran Uber orLyft, but it's kind of that
model where they'll pick upseveral people at a time and
take them to where they need togo for a lower cost than just
taking one person in the taxi,which is expensive.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Our official February guest is Valerie Schaefer with
Economic Development Corporation.
But is there anything that youcan share, as far as you know
that you're allowed to talkabout as far as economic
development?
You know, anything happeningwith jobs or companies or things
that you're encouraged with ortalks that maybe you can't share
exactly what's going on, but doyou feel like there's some
(43:08):
movement going on with some morejob growth in our community.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
There's a lot of potential out there.
Yes, a lot of conversations.
So I mean it's public knowledgeat blue Buffalo finished their
$220 million expansion bringing50 more good paying jobs as
public knowledge Liberation isgoing to continue their main,
their, their construction.
So hopefully they'll have a lotof good jobs there next year.
And yes, there's still moreinterest in our industrial park
(43:32):
and one of the things that'skind of cool is these site
selectors know what endot'sdoing to interstate 70 to help
truck traffic into ourindustrial park, so that's
probably some of the trigger forthis.
They're paying attention tothat and the better truck
traffic.
And there's a new railroad spurin the industrial park there at
anchor ingredients, so there'sa lot of spur in the Dust Trail
Park there at Anchor Ingredients, so there's a lot of we're
(43:53):
getting a lot of interest.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Yeah, Well, I've got some questions as far as the
land available for development,but I'll save that one for
Valerie.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
There's about 400 acres left out there.
I believe roughly.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
One thing that's happened is really kind of old
news now, but a new bridge,Chester Boulevard.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
That's opened up of old news now, but a new bridge,
chester below.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, that's opened up.
It's a big overpass, beautifulbridge over the story depot
district, the overpass bridge.
We're going to have a ribboncutting ceremony.
But we had that snow and icestorm.
So if you remember, last yearwhen main street was finished,
we had a block party down here.
We're going to do somethingsimilar in the depot district
when the the multimodal path isfinished there in the spring I
think they're finding a May dateand they're going to have a
(44:35):
ribbon cutting ceremony.
Ndot's going to come back forthat, so we'll recognize that
bridge when we have our blockparty or depot party in the
spring.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
So that is great.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
And the other thing there's that pocket park
underneath the bridge.
We just signed a contract withan architect firm to help us
design it, so there'll bemeetings with people in the
depot area to.
What does that little park looklike Right underneath the
bridge between Elm Place andNortheast Street?
It's now blocked off.
There's no traffic.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Is that kind of where Porter Science?
Speaker 2 (45:05):
put a building, no, just the south end of the bridge
.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Where you used to be able to drive between Elm Place
and Northeast Street under thebridge that's blocked off now,
so that'll be a park orcommunity area or a place to go
to sit and have lunch or takeyour dog.
So I'm advocating for some turfthere so you can take your dog
out and do business instead ofdoing it on a sidewalk.
So we'll see what we end upwith.
You're a big dog person.
A big dog person.
(45:30):
Charlie's 133 pounds.
We have a monster goldenretriever right now.
He's awesome.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Well, I mean, we've just been plowing through
different things.
I didn't know anything elsethat you think is noteworthy
going on with your job in thecity that we didn't touch on,
that's kind of exciting, notreally Keep watching this and
keep watching the.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
The city's doing podcasts now.
Instead of monthly videos,we're trying to do a podcast
every two weeks.
Talk about what's happening inthe city, to keep people more
informed on a more regular basis.
Watch that, but I'll be excitedto hear what valerie schaefer
has to reveal to your your showif she'll share.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
You talked about the Cities podcast every other week,
yes, so who runs that podcast?
Who's the person that's doing?
Speaker 2 (46:21):
that Our community development coordinator, lindsay
Darnell, she's been doing thatand they record it right here
and it's called Cities PulseInside Richmond, the Cities
Pulse, the City's Pulse Inside.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
Richmond, the City's Pulse.
So Lindsey, who I met, I wouldvisit you at your office a while
back.
She is running the podcast.
Yes she's sitting in your chair.
Okay, great, hey, lindsey, youought to ask me to come on.
I'd love to be your guest once.
That'd be great.
Well, hey, mary, thank you somuch for joining us on the hub.
(46:57):
Uh, thank you for your serviceto our community.
It's uh, uh.
You have a good attitude aboutit.
I appreciate that it's not easy, uh, and every decision you
make is uh.
Is uh welcomed or not welcomed?
Exactly and so that's that'stough we're moving the city
forward.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
That's 100%.
Yeah, we're making Richmondbetter.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
I wish you and your administration the best of luck,
because I mean, if your teamwins, all of us win, and so I
think that's what we should bethinking about and focusing on.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Hey, thanks to our followers.
Please subscribe and share, anduntil next time.
Thank you very much, michaelAllen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
(47:48):
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help.
Contact Manpower today.
Michael Allen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
(00:24):
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help contact Manpowertoday.
Hello and welcome to the Hubpowered by Manpower of Richmond,
and I'm your host, michaelAllen.
And here on the Hub weinterview local leaders,
businesses, community partners,various special guests, and our
mission is to share localstories of companies,
(00:47):
organizations and people whohelp make a difference in our
community.
And today our guest isHonorable Mayor Ron Oler, mayor
of Richmond.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Thank you, michael, welcome, glad to be here Welcome
.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
You know people aren't going to know this, but
I'm still going to say it anyway.
We recorded this, uh in Januaryand we had a little uh problem
with our file and and uh, so wehave to come back and record
this today so so cause.
Our hope was to come back, causewhen you all, uh followers, uh
here, watch this, it's going tobe February, but we did this in
(01:23):
January.
It's like a kind of review of,uh, your first year in office
and so, but, uh, appreciate youcoming back and us doing this
again today and, uh, you knowit's already been a year since
you were sworn in the office anduh, so it's been, uh, it's been
(01:43):
a year You've been on the job.
Before I go into a question Ihave about that, though, as
normally on the Hub, and you didthis last year we ask about the
person's first job, and so yourfirst job was as a young man,
nine years old.
(02:04):
Dad put you out on a farm.
He did some farm work, so, uhand uh, kind of learned a lesson
about getting getting a checkand getting some money.
But uh, I guess that since wealready know that, I want to ask
you and I don't know if we'vetalked about this before what
was it that encouraged you to gointo public service?
(02:26):
You know when?
Your first time?
I don't know if it was, maybeit was when you ran for council,
or maybe you did something else.
So what, what was kind of, whatkind of motivated you to do that
?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
at that time Probably started back in high school
junior leaders.
So I've been involved inhelping my community since high
school in different aspects,finishing several college
degrees and working on my myfirst career.
I was encouraged to run forcouncil by someone who was on
council I'd worked with okay andI ran for council and won and
(02:58):
it was all about serving mycommunity.
So on council you're thelegislator, so you work on
ordinances, you work on thebudget, but it's really about
just local control and servingyour community and I thought I
really like this service.
And then, when it came around,three terms on council 12 years
and many, many, many years ascouncil president and Richmond
Power and Light board chair, Ireally enjoyed what we were
(03:20):
doing, enjoyed where I thoughtRichmond was heading.
And then I had a change incareers and I was sitting back
thinking about what I could donext to help my community and I
just felt called to run from air.
It was an absolute calling.
You know this is.
It's a job you you have to wantto do because it's it's.
It's not about making money, itdoesn't pay very well, but you
(03:41):
get to really help revitalizethe community and I saw Richmond
was on the cusp ofrevitalization, and this was
even before the RevitalizeRichmond program.
I saw what was happening in2022, 2023.
I said there's some potentialhere to really propel Richmond
forward and clean up downtown,bring your life back to downtown
and the different areas of thecity, and I just felt that I
(04:05):
should do this.
And the voters agreed with me.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
So there we are well, yeah, I mean I appreciate your
uh years of service and and, uh,you know you've gone from you
mentioned legislator and nowyou're executive leader of the
city government and you knowhow's, how's the transition been
for you after a year.
I mean, hopefully the 12 yearsserving provided you some
(04:28):
advantages moving forward asmayor.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I'm sure it's been different.
It did so.
The mayor is executive of thecommittee, executive of the city
.
You have basically 12departments that work for you or
work with you.
So you have chiefs, assistantchiefs, police and fire and 10
other departments that you workwith and try to lead and manage.
And, having been on councilthat long, I understand the
roles of every department and Iknew where there's areas we
(04:53):
could fix some things and I knewsome, honestly, some department
heads I wanted to change firstday and I did so.
We brought in some new leadersand trying to change the culture
.
I knew some things that there'ssome things about the culture
inside city hall I didn't like.
So we've been working for 14months in now and trying to
change the culture.
Still got a little ways to go.
You know, you may or may notknow the city has four different
(05:15):
unions and that makes itinteresting.
It's because they have theirown perspective.
So council has an idea, mayor'soffice has an idea,
administration has an idea.
Mayor's office has an idea,administration has an idea.
Four different unions.
Sometimes we, we mesh, andright now we're really meshing
pretty good.
Good things are really goingreally well.
I'm very happy with everythingthat's.
(05:35):
We were moving the needleforward in richmond.
I'm happy with all the progresswe're making all around the
city, right, I'm sure?
Speaker 1 (05:41):
like a year ago, when you, you know, made some of
these changes in leadership andyou know, I mean, you had your
vision as leader, as mayor, thatyou things that you wanted to
do and, uh, the people agreedwith your vision because the
majority of people elected youinto office.
Yes and uh.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
So, even though into office yes and uh so even though
there's going to be people thataren't happy with certain
changes that you make, you haveto kind of stay committed to the
vision, yeah, that you've thatfollow the path that's set
before me every day yeah, I meanevery day I wake up, I pray, do
a little bible study and followthe path that's set before me
(06:25):
and the path and the vision Ihave for the city of
revitalizing it, convincingpeople to move back here, people
to live here, people to openbusinesses here, people to take
a chance on Richmond like theyused to in the past.
Richmond's back and we have somany cool opportunities and
we're going to talk about somemore stuff coming up in a minute
.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, I did have kind of a listof things that I wanted to go
over with you and, uh, one of it, one of the issues, uh topics,
was, uh, something that happenedprior to you becoming an office
.
It was the uh, the northwest ffire.
That where the old hofcobuilding was, and there was also
(07:04):
a recycling business there, andhad an unfortunate fire there.
That was, uh, uh, not what anyof us would have wished for.
So, so, so kind of what.
What's an update on that?
What's going on for that pieceof property and the cleanup and?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
well, that was one of the things I was most
encouraged about my first year.
It was just a few months, inapril last year, when the epa
handed the keys back so itbecame a epa brownfield cleanup
site.
So they invested almost fourmillion dollars clean it up and
by handing the keys back theysaid now you can finish doing
some remedial work.
And some of that work is stillongoing.
There's still some testingdoing, but I'm really excited.
(07:42):
We have several businesses whoare interested in purchasing
that and getting it back on thetax, generating tax revenue
again.
And I talked to the neighbors.
You know it was.
It was an industrial site andI'm advocating for more of a
commercial use and the twocompanies local companies right
now are looking at is more of acommercial use, not industrial,
not manufacturing.
You're too close to housing soyou know housing grew up around
(08:05):
it.
A lot of old cities like this.
Housing grows up around themanufacturing and you're kind of
stuck with something that couldbe dangerous next to where you
live and that's not ideal.
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Right, you can go.
There's different parts of onthe north side, south side of
Richmond, where there'sindustrial buildings that were,
you know, really kind of vibrantemployers, way back, way back
in the day.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
I look at the Gorge Park and, I think, the old
Richmond and the Germantown.
There were stairs going downthe gorge off of first street
and they're still there for theworkers building those pianos at
the Star Piano Factory andGannett Records.
They actually live right at thetop of the hill and walk down
to work every day.
That was common.
So there's a.
There's a lot of interestinghistory around richmond like
(08:51):
that so there's a.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
there was a lot of costs associated with that
cleanup, yes and um, but if Iunderstood you correctly, the
epa came in and they put inabout $4 million.
Yes, and that didn't come at acost to Richmond.
That was just part ofNationwide taxpayer pay for that
.
Yeah, everybody pays in andthat's part of what they do.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
There were some chemicals, there were some
things there that theyidentified.
That said, we need to cleanthis up.
We can't leave it to the cityto do it.
It shouldn't be the city'sburden because there's some
environmental issues, but wehave spent quite a bit of money
our own money when they left.
When the EPA left, there wasthese pits, the old loading
ramps and stuff.
One of them is 12 feet deep andwe know that, even though it's
(09:37):
a restricted site and you shouldnot trespass, we know what boys
and girls will do sometimes.
So we spent like $88,000putting aggregate in there.
The city did out of our ownmoney just to fill those pits in
those areas so there would notbe a place where a child could
ride their bike at night withoutlights and suddenly crash down
into a concrete pit.
So the city has invested a lotof money in that rental fence.
The city pays for the rentalfence.
(09:58):
Epa didn't do that, so we'repaying for that.
There's still an area that hasrental fence around it that's
not yet finished cleaned up.
That's some of the property wedon't own and also around the
old boiler that was never reallytaken out.
So we decide to sell it when wecome to an agreement with.
Whichever business buys it,we'll determine on who's taking
the old boiler out and fillingthat pit in.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
That'll be part of the purchase price agreement so
when the city has an unbudgetedexpenditure like that, I mean
that that I mean the city didn'tset fire to that, I mean so it?
So really it wasn't it wassomething that happened, that
what really wasn't the city'sfault, but now we're having to
(10:39):
pay for it and it wasn'tsomething budgeted.
Or maybe it comes from a fundfor an emergency fund.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
It comes from the emergency fund.
There's two things there's arainy day fund, but there's also
a blight fund for demolishingbuildings and properties.
That we put quite a bit ofmoney into each year and some of
that came from that and somewill come from rainy day,
fortunately.
$88,000 is a lot of money, butit really isn't a lot of money.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So better days ahead for that property, better days.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
I'm excited, so hopefully we're waiting on some
new reports, or some will stillsome.
They call it further sideinvestigation.
So once that's back and deemedit safe to build something on
and we'll be happy to put it upfor sale and sell it to the
highest offer.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
And when that sells, we'll get some of our money back
.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Maybe not all of it, but we'll get some some of the
money back and I'll go back intothat fund for the next rainy
day.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
One of the campaign topics before you came into
office was public safety.
Yes, give us an update on that.
As far as the police departmentand what's going on there, and
anything, anything else relatedto public safety.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
We did.
We focused heavily in 2024 onpublic safety.
That was an area that Ipromised to work tirelessly on
and we have.
We were able to purchase arecord number of police cars in
2024, and we hired more officers, and we're still hiring
officers.
But things are going reallywell in the police department
and you've had the policedepartment on here, or you
should.
(12:06):
They're the PAC division,police and communities together.
We're about community policing.
We have an expanded trafficdivision.
We have expanded enforcement.
We have an internal spreadsheet.
Now, when somebody reportsthere's a vehicle parked that
may be abandoned, that we havethree different departments look
at it and keep track of it, andwhose responsibility is it?
Is it a police departmentresponsibility?
(12:27):
Is it code enforcement?
Is it planning?
Because you know if it's on thestreet, if it's on the driveway
, if it's on the grass.
So we're sharing thisinformation in all three
departments instead of peoplerunning around.
We just got the report and say,hey, checked out this vehicle.
So we're collaborating betterthan I think the city ever has.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
If I once, some of the development continues to
happen in our downtown area andI guess I'm thinking I guess
anywhere from maybe 5th Streetup Main Street all the way as
far as I don't know, maybeMcDonald's where that's located.
(13:05):
If I were to ask the chief ofpolice about what would his
thoughts be about havingofficers that are actually on
foot and going, you know,working that area where I
remember we used to have someofficers that were on bicycles.
They still have the bicycles,yeah, I just always thought that
(13:27):
that area could use a littleTLC or a little bit more
positive interaction with lawenforcement all through that
area.
And it would in my mind andthere's probably other reasons
maybe why it would or wouldn'twork, but I always thought that
would be a really good area tohave more of a interactive law
(13:47):
enforcement presence in thatstretch.
I mean, what are your thoughtsabout that when?
Speaker 2 (13:51):
there are events downtown, you'll see officers on
foot.
With meltdown festival lastweekend, a lot of officers on
foot walking around.
So when there's lots of peopledowntown they do that.
But on the regular patrol wewant the officer to be at their
vehicle with all their equipment.
We don't want to be far fromtheir vehicle.
So, yes, they could park it andwalk around a building and
they'd do that, but untilthere's an actual event we don't
(14:13):
really want them that far fromtheir cars.
But they do patrol it.
We have a district, everybodyhas a district, and they have a
patrol area and they keep an eyeon it.
I want to mention the firedepartment too.
We focused on the firedepartment heavily.
Last year too, you may havenoticed, on the west side of
town we built that large storyfacility between Station 5.
There was some equipment thatused to sit outside and we set
(14:33):
aside some monies to build that,to get some equipment indoors,
so it'll last longer longevity.
So in my mind you make acapital investment on something
so that operationally,throughout the years it lasts
longer and that initialinvestment really pays off in
the long run.
And everything I'm doing hereis for the long run, for the
long view.
So the fire departments add tosome policies, procedures or
(14:53):
keeping better inventory oftheir ems equipment and all the
supplies they use.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
They're really, really keeping control of that,
keeping a good eye on that, sothere's not any waste when we
first uh sat down, we weretalking about the former elder
pyramid site and there were um.
They were still doing a lot ofcleanup there and but today, if
we were to walk over there, we'dsee a pretty clean slate right
(15:20):
now yes and uh.
So, um, I know there's a lot ofsentimental thoughts for some
people about that building beinggone and the year shopping
there at the elder baron, whichwas a long time you know retail
space that people worked at andpeople bought uh goods, uh from.
But you know, now it's justtime to move on and uh so tell
(15:44):
us tell us about that site andkind of what's going on with it.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I had mixed emotions with it because that was the
first escalator I rode as a kidand I think the sweater probably
came from there because theyjust closed six years ago.
So six years ago when Bond Timewent bankrupt and the whole
shopping experience was changingnationwide, it wasn't anything
the city did, it's just retailwas just changing.
The city and county tookcontrol of that building and had
(16:11):
a three-year plan on how toredevelop it and we had two
different developers whose planscame and went and weren't
really viable.
And the latest developer camewith the idea of demolishing the
building and putting in marketrate housing, which is something
we know we need from all of ourhousing studies.
We have housing studies andworkforce studies.
We know we have about 12,000people that work in
(16:32):
Richmond-Wayne County that don'tlive here and 8,000 of those
commute here every day toRichmond-Wayne County.
In my mind I guess the other4,000 are remote workers.
So that site has a lot ofhistory or remote workers.
But so that that site has a lotof history.
The building that's leftstanding sweet blessings, the
bakery slash restaurant that'sthere now.
That's the first building tosurvive this explosion in 1968.
(16:53):
So it was important to savethat.
But, yes, mixed emotionstearing it down.
We thought we could repurposeit but it was a hundred thousand
square feet of concrete andstill with no windows.
It's purposely built that wayand it was really hard to
redevelop it.
And this developer came in andwith some of the Earlham Lilly
funds and Ready 1.0 match fundswe were able to demolish it and
(17:15):
see a new purpose for it on thecorner.
So it's changed the wholeskyline.
So now when you cross thebridge by the courthouse the
skyline's changed and soon whenconstruction starts you know by
the end of 26, 27, it'll lookquite a bit different again.
They'll start construction thisspring.
Right now they're doing thegeotech work.
You know they've got to checkthe foundations and footers and
(17:35):
is that part stable, whereexactly we put stuff.
And that's starting now thegeotech.
But they're demobilizing theirequipment.
The company that did thedemolition finished weeks ahead
of schedule.
So they don't have a deadlinereally to move the last of their
excavators.
They're just waiting until thenext demolition site and they'll
move it to that.
They're out of Cincinnati.
They did a great job.
(17:55):
They were so easy to work with.
We did a skywalk.
We went to the Board of Worksand got permission to close that
for a week, not knowing whichday, based upon the weather, it
would close, and 7th Street wasclosed for two hours.
That's all it took to getSkywalk down, because it's a
very experienced company.
We were really blessed witheverything they did and they
really worked with thebusinesses to make sure they
(18:16):
weren't closed over Thanksgivingand everything worked out
really well.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
So, as you see, now it's dirt, it's ready, so soon
construction will start andit'll really really change yeah,
I was really impressed at therate that they were able to work
on that project and really insome weather that wasn't that
great right but they just werestuck with it and uh it just
seemed like, uh, very neat, veryclean, clean the existing
(18:45):
buildings you mentioned, likeSweet Blessings and Phillips,
and there's some demolitionaround that site.
What are they going to do withkind of trying to dress up those
properties that are remaining?
Because, like Sweet Blessings,I mean that was right up the
(19:05):
city and county got togetherlast mean, that was right up.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So do the city and County got together last year in
that help grant program that alot of businesses qualified for.
That's one of them.
So they have resources to makethat wall look more attractive,
because the design of the newapartment complex there'll be a
gap between the buildings andthat's kind of their dog park
area.
So the side of that West sideof their dog park area, so the
side of that west side of thesweet blessings buildings will
be dressed up and made morepresentable for the people
(19:30):
living there.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, and it'll stabilize it and bring back some
of the rich history that thatbuilding has so the when we,
when we mentioned market ratehousing now I think I know what
that means.
Maybe our followers, they don't.
That means that it may be ourfollowers, they don't.
That means that that what ifyou and I were to move there?
Yes, what we pay in rent isgoing to be based upon, uh, uh,
(19:56):
whatever the going market rateis for that kind of apartment or
whatever.
Not any money that is basedupon your income or subsidized
by the government or anythingCorrect.
So it's not.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Not section eight housing, not subsidized housing.
So market rate forprofessionals.
So they're finding, when theybuild these all around the state
and actually around the countrynow, that they get a lot of
young professionals but they'regetting even more empty nesters
now.
So by market rate means thatit's luxury apartments with all
kinds of amenities and thecompany that's building this,
flarendon Collins, they maintainownership and they maintain
(20:29):
management.
They don't hire outsidemanagers.
Those are their employees inthere and they're dedicated to
keep the building nice andworking with local contractors,
local cleaning companies, localagencies to to maintain it to a
superb level.
Cause they're there, they, theycharge a premium price and
you'll look at the price and say, well, I can rent an apartment
downtown for less than that.
Yes, you can, but you won't getyour fitness gym included, you
(20:53):
won't get your bicycle warehouserepair shop included, you won't
get your dog spa included, youwon't get your community room
included, you won't get yourswimming pool included.
So all that stuff is in thereso people can live there, work
there, and we don't haveanything like that in Richmond.
They're common aroundIndianapolis, south Bend, fort
Wayne, so this is the first timewe've had something like that
(21:14):
in Richmond.
All amenities are on site.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So, yeah, the price may seem high, but when you say
your gym membership's included,this is included, that's
included, it really isn't highyeah, my son lives in a
community in illinois that's, Iwould say, similar to richmond
and their downtown area, andthey built in a complex similar
like, I think, what we're goingto have, and, uh, you know, I
saw them build it and fill itand it seems to be a real, uh,
(21:41):
vibrant part of now that, uh,their downtown area and uh.
So I've seen that in like whatyou've talked about,
indianapolis, but I've also seenit in, maybe some smaller
communities and I'm encouraged,uh, not spend too much more time
on it, but how many, uh do you?
I know that plans aren'ttotally done or maybe they are,
(22:02):
but how many units are wetalking about or are, or are?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
they talking about.
It didn't bring it with me, butI think it's 150.
There's an article in a paperthat had all the details from a
presentation a few weeks ago.
150 apartments ranging from onebedroom to two bedroom plus a
den, which my mind's threebedroom, but yeah, so different
sizes different price which mymind's three bedroom, but yeah.
So different sizes, differentprice points, and it's
interesting that the ones on thefacing the North over the main
(22:28):
street, we'll have these littlebalconies you can walk out on.
So I envision people out there.
We'll have our holiday paradegoing through here and no people
be out there on their balconywatching the parade and other
things happening on main street.
So it'll be different lifestylethan we ever had here.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Right, pretty cool and I think with if we have over
a hundred different residentsin that area, this definitely
has the potential to spur a lotof economic growth in the
downtown businesses, because nowthey'll have a captive audience
there's tops and retailers talk.
Speaker 2 (22:59):
Some more coffee shops coming, grocery store
coming.
Everybody's kind of waiting.
So there's, a lot of things inthe works.
Once the apartments are done,they start leasing, things will
just pop up.
Boutique shops will come backand I've talked to different
people the farmer's market whoare interested in opening
physical stores here once we getmore people living downtown.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Well, it'll be interesting, i'd'd say the 18 to
24 months from now, to see howthat all evolves and and uh
works out.
Uh, talk, we spoke.
You spoke a little bit about amoney.
I I wanted to mention the Lillyendowment grant, earlham
college.
Uh, that's something that moneyis right, they're spinning up.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Yeah, they're spinning that up.
They received that $25 milliongrant from Lillie endowment for
revitalize Richmond communitypartnership.
A lot of properties downtown werevitalize.
From that, ownership Hands willchange.
Different apartments, differentamenities will come, different
commercial space will come.
So that that whole campaign ofbuild, connect and activate and
(24:01):
there's some stuff in there forthe gorge park too is is led by
earlham college, so you reallyneed to check out their website,
revitalize whichman, and theyhave podcasts and other programs
that you can follow on x andfacebook.
So they're always talking aboutthe things that they're doing.
So they, they really controlthat.
The city doesn't really havemuch to do with it other than
(24:22):
helping them along and pushingalong, so I just had this
question kind of pop in my mind.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
We didn't talk about it last time, but I mentioned
that area from 5th Street up to,let's say I said, mcdonald's.
Is there a building, a piece ofproperty up on going down Main
Street that hasn't really beenpurchased yet or not set up?
(24:48):
Has some plans yet, somepositive plans, that you wish
something could be done withthat building?
Is there one that can you thinkof?
Speaker 2 (24:57):
one there's one that it's not in any of our plans,
and they had a small fire theretwo weeks ago from some homeless
people living inside.
It's marked as Burt's SewingCenter and it was Main Street
Grill, so there's basically twobuildings together there.
Okay, so I don't even know whoowns it, so I'm not dissing the
owners or anything, but Ihaven't heard of any plans for
that building and I'd like tosee something come back in there
(25:19):
, because the front facade iskind of interesting and there's
a brick there, so something goodcould come of that.
So I hope the owners areplanning on something, but it's
not part of any of our plans.
Almost every other building,even the old bank across the
street I look at now, is inlocal hands.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Yeah, that's great.
That second National Bankbuilding is really kind of a
unique building that secondnational bank building is really
kind of a unique building andmy father-in-law, um, passed
away several years ago now andhe was um.
A lot of people would stillremember him Ken Bain.
He was president of secondnational bank and then there are
many years and I remember goingin that bank and just always in
(25:55):
all of that building and I hopewe can find something really
unique to go in there and kindof preserve the architectural
interior of that building if yougo around.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I've gone around since one of my jobs as mayor is
to go meet with other mayorsand we talk about good, the bad,
the ugly and the positives, andI see a lot of banks like that
are converted into steakhousesand other venues, so I'm hopeful
that some entrepreneur willpick it up like that?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah, I hope so.
It would be really cool.
We have Revive I-70.
That's ramping up, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
So Revive I-70, if you don't know, revive I-70.com.
They have their own website.
That's that plan to rebuild 21miles of Interstate 70 from the
Ohio line all the way to StateRoad 1 and make it three lanes
in both directions, although thecosts have come in more
expensive than they thought.
So 10 years ago when NDOT hadthis plan they thought it would
(26:52):
cost about $400 million.
When they let out the firstphase, which is Highway 40 to
Highway 35, that alone was $400million.
So they've let out the secondand third phase.
So the first phase will stillbe.
From ohio line to 35 will stillbe three lanes in both
directions, and the rest of itwith 21, 42 bridges and culverts
.
They'll build theinfrastructure for three lanes
(27:14):
in both directions but they'renot going to build the actual
three lanes just yet.
They'll wait for another roundof funding in the future.
So it'll be ready for six lanesall the way through the county
but at least for the the city'sfour exits we'll have six lanes
and that'll help the industrialpark.
There's more expansion going onour industrial park between
highway 35 and centerville roadand round barn road down
(27:34):
industries road.
There's.
There's more, hopefully somemore projects coming.
Liberation labs is restarting,blue buffalo's finishing their
expansion, so there's there,hopefully, some more projects
coming.
Liberation Labs is restarting.
Blue Buffalo is finishing theirexpansion, so there's some more
stuff in the wind that shouldbe coming there soon.
Yeah, liberation.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Labs there on the docket.
They're going to come in andtalk to us here in about a month
or so.
That's an interesting product.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, absolutely, so many uses for it.
Stay tuned followers.
Yeah, that'll be fun to watchproduct.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So many stay tuned followers.
Yeah, that'll be fun to watch.
Uh, the isep.
I guess I should be thankfulwe're going to get something.
I would like to see it at leastthree lanes, all the way to one
, but it doesn't sound likethat's at least gonna build the
infrastructure, but for nowthey're only going to build the
third lane.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
So 35, but that's I mean that's it's more than we've
had oh yeah, no, no, for yearsI was concerned.
They're building the six lanesfrom from you know mount comfort
greenfield hancock county.
When are they going to comeover here?
And I was excited when they'regoing to stop there and start
building this direction, becauseinterstate 70 from richmond,
indianapolis, is the nextindustrial park yeah, that crowd
in indianapolis.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
They owe us big time.
They've got to start bringingsome money over here, because
we've got a great community andthey need to open up the purse
and bring the money over here.
Hey, the I-70 thing kind ofgoes into a little bit of the
rebranding.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
The city of Richmond, and one thing that you
mentioned was to try to out on70.
Well, I'll let you talk aboutit.
Build something out there thatreally helped draw in the public
.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
When I had my first meeting with NDOT February of
last year my second month inthey talked about the Revive
I-70 and what they're doing.
So at Highway 40, the firstexit coming into Indiana from
Ohio, we have the opportunity toput some nice monumental
signage there.
There's this historic committee, I found out, for if you travel
along any interstate in Indianayou'll see monument signs for
(29:30):
every major community that aremade of limestone, which Indiana
is famous for, brick and steel.
So we have the opportunity tobuild something there and I say
we have the opportunity becausethey will build the base for it
and run some electric for it.
But we have to pay for it andmaintain it.
So we have to find half amillion to a million dollars to
build this huge monument thatsays Welcome to Indiana, the
crossroads of America.
(29:51):
Exit now and spend your money.
Come into Richmond, historicRichmond.
So the part of the rebranding isgoing to give us a name.
So we've looked at some signlogos and a lot of them have.
We could put Richmond there andthen your tagline underneath.
So we don't really have a goodtagline right now.
So in my office actually myassistant's office we have about
five different logos that thecity's using a different
(30:11):
department.
So rebranding is going to getus all back together and get us
one logo, one sense of who weare.
So there'll be communitymeetings coming up soon.
We want community input.
We're not doing this.
City administration isn't doingthis.
We're organizing the people ina group to this.
So you have some really goodconsultants who have rebranded
cities our size all across theMidwest.
They have a lot of goodexperience and we're lucky to
(30:33):
have them.
They come next week and we do awindshield tour with them.
So we've already awarded thecontract, but they've been here
a couple of times.
But we have a windshield tourthat they're going to see all
the historic districts ofRichmond and kind of get a feel
of this side of Richmond, thatside of Richmond, that side of
Richmond industrial, commercial,residential, restaurants,
history, architecture, music,just parks, everything about
(30:56):
Richmond.
And then we'll get input fromthe citizens too and come up
with a brand of what isRichmond's new tagline, our logo
, and we'll use it.
We'll incorporate it in everydepartment.
We'll use this on all theirbrochures, their social media,
their mail.
Everything's going to be onecohesive city with this new
brand for a couple of decades tocome.
(31:18):
So this monument or this signagestill to be determined still to
be determined, but that's goingto be still to be determined.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
So is.
Are we going to see thatheading going from west to east,
going from east to west whenyou're coming from ohio as soon?
Speaker 2 (31:36):
as you can see past shelton fireworks.
You'll be able to see this onthe right-hand side.
They've already identified thespace when they rebuild those
ramps and do that ramp.
So it'll be inside this area.
One of the great things NDOT'sdoing now is they're allowing
the city to choose the plantsand the trees.
So our parks department hassome really skilled arborists
(31:56):
and florists in thebeautification team.
They were able to pick out whattrees, what plants, what
grasses go in there and it'll bereally nice.
Right now it's just you knowwhat, whatever bushes grow up
and grass yeah, and we'llactually maintain it, so it'll
look like a really developedintersection and people go.
There's something here inrichmond.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I got to exit yeah, well, I hope we can compete with
the solar panels, the, the hugewhite cross and the uranus
fudge factory as you come intown so we're gonna have to
really work hard.
Yes on this monument becausethere's a lot going on at that
exit, so hopefully, uh, itdefinitely be a a thing of
(32:34):
beauty as they enter from theeast into our grand city.
Uh, anything else on therebranding, you know, as we not
really, rebranding, but thatleads us into our comprehensive
plan refresh.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
So, okay, one of the reasons we're starting
rebranding now is ourcomprehensive plan is five years
old.
Richmond rising, which was a,which is a great logo and a
great tagline, but it was neveradopted by all the departments,
so but it's five years old.
So Richmond Rising is fiveyears old and you have to have a
refresh comprehensive planevery five years or you don't
qualify for certain grants fromthe state and federal government
(33:06):
.
You can't have a six-year-oldplan.
So we're going to go through arefresh process.
As soon as rebranding gets wellunderway and almost finished,
the comprehensive plan refreshwill start, and that'll be a
chance for people to have someinput too.
So Richmond Rising had severalareas of focus and some of those
things were accomplished andsome were, and some that weren't
(33:26):
were because of COVID thisthing.
Covid happened and peoplestarted working from home more
than ever.
So really, the things that wethought we wanted to do six
years ago we don't want to donow, because shopping's changed.
The whole landscape of the wayconsumers interact with their
cities changed.
So now's an opportunity.
We're actually at a really goodtime.
It's good that it's five yearsold, because we had a really
(33:47):
good time to look at it and gowhat is?
What do we want to do with thisarea of town, what do we want
to do with that area of town,what should the focus be here
and what do the citizens want?
Speaker 1 (33:55):
right, so we're moving on from richmond rising
something else.
Yes, yeah so yeah, richmond'sliving, richmond's doing.
I mean, you know when, uh when,when Jesus raised Lazarus from
the grave.
I mean that was a, that was aone, uh, a wonderful, uh,
miracle, and.
But after a while, I meanLazarus still had things to do
(34:17):
after he was back alive.
Speaker 2 (34:18):
So it's like Lazarus living.
Speaker 1 (34:20):
What's Lazarus doing today?
So it would be great to seewhat comes of the new slogan or
the new theme.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
We're not doing this in a vacuum.
In 2023, there were 53 newmayors elected in the 83 cities
in Indiana that have mayors, anda lot of those did that last
year.
They did their rebranding lastyear.
We waited to see which onesworked really well and which
ones we liked, and we startedinterviewing those companies and
came up with what we think willbe the best of the best, and
(34:53):
we're actually paying half theprice of what some others pay
because they went too early.
So waiting is fullness.
Speaker 1 (34:59):
If you wait, you can get a better price how are you,
um, how are you working with theuh county government?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
I mean, how, how's that?
Speaker 1 (35:07):
relationship with the commissioners and county
council, or I mean they kind ofhave their things that they're
involved in, but they're also,you know, richmond's a big part
of wayne county, yes, and wehave other.
Wayne county's a big part ofwayne county, yes, and we have
other wayne county's a big partof richmond.
Yeah, and we have other wepartner communities that are
very important to the whole, ourwhole county.
(35:29):
But how?
How does richmond uniquely workwith the council?
Is there anything going onthere or just kind of?
Speaker 2 (35:36):
well, you know operating procedures.
I think most people know wepartner with them for 911
dispatch.
So they have the equipment,they have the staff.
We pay for half of that.
So it's one of our hugepartnerships.
So the mayor sits on theemergency management agency
board and some several otherboards over there.
The mayor sits on, and alsoRichmond Fire and Police sit on
other boards and communicateregularly about what we can do
(35:58):
better.
So some of the things we can'treally join forces on.
One good example you know wemight get some more snow and ice
next couple of days.
Richmond has storm sewers.
We have to use salt on ourroads because we have storm
sewers.
We want it to melt and not jamup the storm sewers.
The county does not, so theycan use sand and gravel at their
intersections, which just runsoff the side of the road.
(36:20):
We can't use sand and gravelbecause it would clog the storm
sewers and cost us more in thelong run.
So that's kind of.
One of the things we reallycan't share is how do you treat
ice?
It's just one of the funnyanecdotes that are out there.
Just because of the way yourstructure is, you can't share
what we try to share.
I have meetings with my like.
There's a full-time president,a full-time commissioner is a
president of commissioners, jeffplaster.
(36:42):
We meet pretty much weekly andwe talk probably every other day
about different things, thingswe can collaborate on and work
together on and try to solveproblems together and on and try
to solve problems together andand the, the county, the help
grant, the, the state dollars,the, the arpa funds, the state
help funds through the county tobenefit all the county and even
city richmond.
(37:02):
So that comes from the federalto the state to the county and
then we work together to helprevitalize downtown richmond
with some of those help dollars.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
I live out in the county, so I have a Richmond
address.
But full disclosure I did notvote for you because I can't.
But I'm out there and theadmission to Rhodes, so we have
paved roads where I live but itis a dirt and gravel road for
(37:34):
about four months out of theyear and I just hate it because
they just dump.
If the county street departmentor road department is listening
, just go a little bit light.
They do a great job.
I'm just joking.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
But I mean, man, there's a lot.
They do that because it'scheaper.
We pay a lot of money for saltsalt is a lot more expensive
than the sand and the gravelthey get spread on the
intersection.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
They come out and clean it up every spring, but
man, it's, it's kind of brutal.
Especially we had that big snowthis year.
So you know they, they're outthere in full force with, with
this dropping the sand out onthe roads.
So enough of that.
Um, one thing I want to talkabout a little bit is just
because I deal with it in my job, so transportation.
(38:20):
So from my experience atmanpower, I can share that one
of the biggest impediments toemployment is transportation and
, uh, most of our manufacturinggrowth.
We hit it on earlier.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
We're not building factories within the city, we're
going out on the edges in theindustrial park, kind of the way
.
We should just, for the reason,just take that fire as an
example.
No, I agree with that weshouldn't build up residential
around industrial parks.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
But what that the result of that is.
You know, most of our growth ison the peripheral of the
community and we do not havegood public transportation to
those sites.
So therefore there areliterally there's this one guy I
interviewed last week and agreat guy but just doesn't have
(39:06):
a car, and I really think thisguy would make a good employee
for a company, but he wants toget into manufacturing and we're
just waiting to find somethingthat he can ride his bike or or,
uh, walk to, because thetransportation is a challenge
for him one of the go out tothese other areas where there's
no taxi, cab or bus service.
(39:28):
So, you know, that is um, that'sjust tough, you know, and I
wish there was something that wecould do to help these folks.
We're working on it.
Speaker 2 (39:35):
We started.
One of the things I startedthat was a conversation I had
with a lot of businesses lastyear and I said what?
Can we do to fix this.
So we're looking at.
So you know, we have RoseviewTransit, which you may or may
not know is federally funded andit has to just stay on the
lines.
It has to have these documentedlines and stay on the lines.
They can't go to the industrialparks for a lot of reasons you
(39:55):
have to have sidewalks, you haveto have buses.
It's weird rules.
But there's a new form oftransportation called
microtransit and we're watchinga city in Indiana who adopt the
DIS model and if they can makeit work and self-funded so that
it's not a cost to taxpayers.
Microtransit is a smaller bus ora van that's pretty much on
(40:17):
demand.
That'll take, that'll pick upat 530 in the morning.
There's five calls that need togo to a factory industrial park
.
It'll go around theneighborhoods pick them up and
take them out there on demandbecause it's a van, not a
federal bus, not a federaltransit administration bus is a
micro transit van.
So we're working with thiscompany that does this and we're
(40:38):
watching this one particularcity in Indiana who implemented
it last year and see now it'sworking there because because
we're going to adopt it when weknow it works and how it works
and we'll let them work out thewrinkles, we'll let them work
out the bugs and the wrinklesand when we do it it'll, it'll
work and it'll be affordable.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
It's got to be affordable and you just can't
flip a switch and have a programlike that go in place.
But I'm glad to hear that weare thinking of that, because I
can attest that that is a hugeneed in our community, because
we work with a lot of people whoare who are unemployed or trans
, just transitioning from onejob to another, and that just,
(41:19):
uh, tends to be an ongoingchallenge.
Speaker 2 (41:22):
If you're an entrepreneur out there, sign up
for Uber, sign up for Lyft.
We know there's demand andthere are a couple of taxi
services back but they don'twork all hours.
So if you have a vehicle andyou want to make some extra
money you mentioned the firstpart of the show my first side
hustle.
Nine years old, I was helpinganother farmer.
My dad sent my brother and I towork for another farmer to help
(41:43):
him bell hay because his sonwas injured, and at the end of
the week I got a paper check andI'm like I thought I was
getting paid, but we took it tothe bank and I started a savings
account.
So I'm telling this to otherentrepreneurs there's an opening
there and there's a way for youto make a little money on the
side if you're willing to get upearly and stay up a little late
after your regular job.
Speaker 1 (42:02):
Right now, if you take a cab to work it's going to
cost.
If you go to work five daysit's going to you a hundred
dollars for the week.
Pretty much yes and uh.
So I guess if you take thattimes four it's 400.
Maybe you can't buy a car for400, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (42:22):
Um uh right, there's economic choices, so yeah, it's
just tough.
Hopefully we'll get this microtransit working, which will be
very affordable because it'sbasically a I don't't want to
call it a government ran Uber orLyft, but it's kind of that
model where they'll pick upseveral people at a time and
take them to where they need togo for a lower cost than just
taking one person in the taxi,which is expensive.
Speaker 1 (42:46):
Our official February guest is Valerie Schaefer with
Economic Development Corporation.
But is there anything that youcan share, as far as you know
that you're allowed to talkabout as far as economic
development?
You know, anything happeningwith jobs or companies or things
that you're encouraged with ortalks that maybe you can't share
exactly what's going on, but doyou feel like there's some
(43:08):
movement going on with some morejob growth in our community.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
There's a lot of potential out there.
Yes, a lot of conversations.
So I mean it's public knowledgeat blue Buffalo finished their
$220 million expansion bringing50 more good paying jobs as
public knowledge Liberation isgoing to continue their main,
their, their construction.
So hopefully they'll have a lotof good jobs there next year.
And yes, there's still moreinterest in our industrial park
(43:32):
and one of the things that'skind of cool is these site
selectors know what endot'sdoing to interstate 70 to help
truck traffic into ourindustrial park, so that's
probably some of the trigger forthis.
They're paying attention tothat and the better truck
traffic.
And there's a new railroad spurin the industrial park there at
anchor ingredients, so there'sa lot of spur in the Dust Trail
Park there at Anchor Ingredients, so there's a lot of we're
(43:53):
getting a lot of interest.
Speaker 1 (43:53):
Yeah, Well, I've got some questions as far as the
land available for development,but I'll save that one for
Valerie.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
There's about 400 acres left out there.
I believe roughly.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
One thing that's happened is really kind of old
news now, but a new bridge,Chester Boulevard.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
That's opened up of old news now, but a new bridge,
chester below.
Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah, that's opened up.
It's a big overpass, beautifulbridge over the story depot
district, the overpass bridge.
We're going to have a ribboncutting ceremony.
But we had that snow and icestorm.
So if you remember, last yearwhen main street was finished,
we had a block party down here.
We're going to do somethingsimilar in the depot district
when the the multimodal path isfinished there in the spring I
think they're finding a May dateand they're going to have a
(44:35):
ribbon cutting ceremony.
Ndot's going to come back forthat, so we'll recognize that
bridge when we have our blockparty or depot party in the
spring.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
So that is great.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
And the other thing there's that pocket park
underneath the bridge.
We just signed a contract withan architect firm to help us
design it, so there'll bemeetings with people in the
depot area to.
What does that little park looklike Right underneath the
bridge between Elm Place andNortheast Street?
It's now blocked off.
There's no traffic.
Speaker 1 (45:02):
Is that kind of where Porter Science?
Speaker 2 (45:05):
put a building, no, just the south end of the bridge
.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Where you used to be able to drive between Elm Place
and Northeast Street under thebridge that's blocked off now,
so that'll be a park orcommunity area or a place to go
to sit and have lunch or takeyour dog.
So I'm advocating for some turfthere so you can take your dog
out and do business instead ofdoing it on a sidewalk.
So we'll see what we end upwith.
You're a big dog person.
A big dog person.
(45:30):
Charlie's 133 pounds.
We have a monster goldenretriever right now.
He's awesome.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
Well, I mean, we've just been plowing through
different things.
I didn't know anything elsethat you think is noteworthy
going on with your job in thecity that we didn't touch on,
that's kind of exciting, notreally Keep watching this and
keep watching the.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
The city's doing podcasts now.
Instead of monthly videos,we're trying to do a podcast
every two weeks.
Talk about what's happening inthe city, to keep people more
informed on a more regular basis.
Watch that, but I'll be excitedto hear what valerie schaefer
has to reveal to your your showif she'll share.
Speaker 1 (46:12):
You talked about the Cities podcast every other week,
yes, so who runs that podcast?
Who's the person that's doing?
Speaker 2 (46:21):
that Our community development coordinator, lindsay
Darnell, she's been doing thatand they record it right here
and it's called Cities PulseInside Richmond, the Cities
Pulse, the City's Pulse Inside.
Speaker 1 (46:32):
Richmond, the City's Pulse.
So Lindsey, who I met, I wouldvisit you at your office a while
back.
She is running the podcast.
Yes she's sitting in your chair.
Okay, great, hey, lindsey, youought to ask me to come on.
I'd love to be your guest once.
That'd be great.
Well, hey, mary, thank you somuch for joining us on the hub.
(46:57):
Uh, thank you for your serviceto our community.
It's uh, uh.
You have a good attitude aboutit.
I appreciate that it's not easy, uh, and every decision you
make is uh.
Is uh welcomed or not welcomed?
Exactly and so that's that'stough we're moving the city
forward.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
That's 100%.
Yeah, we're making Richmondbetter.
Speaker 1 (47:15):
I wish you and your administration the best of luck,
because I mean, if your teamwins, all of us win, and so I
think that's what we should bethinking about and focusing on.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (47:27):
Hey, thanks to our followers.
Please subscribe and share, anduntil next time.
Thank you very much, michaelAllen from Manpower.
We are a national brand, yetlocally owned franchise.
We are familiar with thechallenges businesses face.
It's tough recruiting andretaining qualified employees.
That's why working withManpower is a smart,
(47:48):
cost-effective solution.
Our entire focus is talentacquisition.
We'll manage your hiring andtraining and provide ongoing,
customized support.
Since 1966, we have been yourcommunity-invested partner,
uniquely positioned to helpeliminate the hassles and save
you time and money.
Let us help.
Contact Manpower today.
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