Salisbury State of the City Address touches on housing, finances and future for the city

SALISBURY, Md. –  The State of the City address saw Salisbury Mayor Jack Heath and department heads speaking to the achievements of the city, and the path forward.

Mayor Heath says he is proud of the collaboration and information sharing he has been able to bring to the departments. He also points to the push for staffing, accessibility in hiring and greater diversity across departments. “My job is to make sure that we have the players in the right positions,” he said.

Accomplishments were in full view during the presentations, including the touting of a clean audit, and pushing back against election claims of financial recklessness by the city.

Mayor Heath says despite that, a winding down of COVID-19 funding will mean the city has to find a way to attract development, and stay conservative with spending, which he says can be done.

“We did have funds for COVID and we got I wouldn’t say fat, dumb, and happy, but we weren’t struggling at all. our goal is always to have four months in available funds. And we do. We are there and the the audit obviously showed that,” said Mayor Heath.

The Department of Infrastructure and Development highlighted new interest from developers and a record number of homes on the way.

“We currently have 1064 residential units under construction, 990 more approved, and 3095 units in review, a total of 5333 units between construction planning and review, that’s a significant amount of housing, much greater than what we’ve seen in years previous,” said Department Director Rick Baldwin.

Community development leaders chose to focus on their hiring push to give wrap-around services to those moving into the Anne Street Pallet village, including case workers, and housing managers allowing the population of the village to scale with available services. That will work in tandem with a new IT program for the city that aims to digitalize the casework for the homeless.

“Ensuring that they make their appointments, whether it’s mental health appointments, whether it’s doctor appointments, making sure that they receive education and training in financial literacy,” said Department Director Muir Boda.

While the speakers looked ahead to the future, the evening ended with a standing ovation for heath- looking back and thanking him for his nine years of public service.

“I learned a long time ago that good leadership is hiring promoting the right people and then get out of there way,” Mayor Heath said.