LIMA, OH (WLIO) - Lima Mayor Sharetta Smith has not slowed down, now serving her 2nd year in office. In part 2 of our talk with the mayor, she outlines her continued commitment to keeping communication open with city residents.
"The wheels continues to turn, not just for me, because again, one of the things that I really want to stay true to is making sure that what comes out of this office reflects what we hear from the community," stated Mayor Sharetta Smith, City of Lima.
That means the mayor's popular "Walk the Wards" will happen again this year, set to start in April when the weather is a bit more favorable than it was last January. A major issue for the city is housing. Lima needs new and rehabbed housing.
"And the Harsany Group made a projection that by 2030, Lima would need roughly 1,200 homes and that included in-field development new homes and rehabbing some of our older homes and so we are really going block by block looking to see where those opportunities are for both rehab but in-field development," explained Mayor Smith.
Lima's population was more than 53,000 in 1970. Still 45,000 in 1990. In 2020, just over 35,000. Mayor Smith says let's not put all of our eggs in the population numbers basket, whatever the number as Lima still plays a major role in local and state government.
"I think if anything, the challenge is for us to not necessarily tie our growth to a population increase or decrease because there are cities that are very financially stable, there are cities that are still great places that may not be large metropolises as well and so for those reasons, I'm excited about the future of Lima," said Mayor Smith.
In part 3, the mayor will discuss her historic election as Lima's mayor and how she doesn't let her being 'the first' affect her job.
The mayor will give her state of the city address on Wednesday, March 22, at 6 p.m. at the Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center. Your Hometown Stations will live stream the mayor's address on our Facebook page.
