SMOKEY POINT — During her Feb. 9 State of the City address to the Arlington-Smokey Point Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Barbara Tolbert summed up the city’s progress in economic development, infrastructure, fiscal sustainability and public safety.
Perhaps the biggest news was confirmation that the long-vacant Smokey Point Food Pavilion building is slated to get a new tenant, the Tractor Supply Co. chain of stores. TSC will move into a third of the space, and the hunt is on for two other tenants.
“I know many of you have been concerned about having that empty building right at our western gateway,” said Tolbert, who could offer few other details about the project. “By getting a new business in there, we expect to increase its security and safety overall.”
Tolbert noted that 2015 saw Arlington add 127 new business licenses, for a total of 884, with the Dollar Store and the Grocery Outlet filling the old downtown Arlington Food Pavilion, while Smokey Point Distributing has relocated within town to a larger facility.
Tolbert also addressed issues involving the Arlington Municipal Airport, reporting that the city had received a closeout letter from the Federal Aviation Administration at the end of last year, regarding complaints that the FAA and a state audit inquired about last year.
She conceded that the airport’s procedures remain the subject of updating efforts. She also elaborated that the airport’s total of 121 leases are the opposite of standardized.
“It’s not like renting a home or an apartment,” Tolbert said. “Some of our tenants have gotten credits for performing fixes. Each one has varying requirements. They’re not uniform.”
What the city is trying to make more uniform, and efficient, is its customer service and internal practices. In 2015, this meant updating its hiring, so that what used to take six months now takes 30 days. Another step has been to direct citizens to the request tool on the city’s website, which fielded 422 user requests last year.
“This enables a direct staff response, rather than going through the whole chain of command,” Tolbert said.
Looking to 2016, Tolbert hopes to see the city shift to biennial budgets, given that its current yearly budgets take at least six months to prepare.
“A budget that covers two years can be adjusted in its second year, but still allows us to plan out for projects that will take more than one year,” Tolbert said.
Budgeting for the city’s fire and EMS remains a concern. Tolbert expressed pride that the city has maintained its six-minute response time average, even as it’s experienced a 19 percent increase in calls for emergency services. She pointed out that capped revenues will eventually collide with exponentially increasing need.
“We have a great level of service,” Tolbert said. “The question is, how do we keep it?”
She acknowledged that the Arlington Fire Department lost three paramedics last year, but looks forward to seeing current firefighters get sent out for paramedic training.
Just as the Arlington Police Department aims to incorporate embedded social workers among its responders, so too did Tolbert champion the value of the Arlington Community Resource Center, which has fielded 310 participants inneed of service, paying the center over 1,020 visits.
Tolbert was particularly proud of the center for upping the local numbers for the annual Point In Time homeless count, from 23 last year to 206 this year, by offering a resource fair on the same day.
“When you can build that level of trust with people, it helps you make more connections,” Tolbert said.
