Dear community members,

The City of Geneva is widely considered a very desirable place to live, work, and visit. Our city is historic, with a small-town feel that creates a special culture.

The city provides incredible value for our residents, funded by just 5% of the public’s property tax bill. We are careful stewards of our residents’ tax dollars, spending conservatively as if it were our own money. Our property tax rate is significantly lower than our neighbors.

Being a historic community has its challenges, with some infrastructure dating back two centuries.

• Our police station experiences frequent flooding with both roof and sewer back-ups that regularly impact operations, including a recent partial ceiling collapse.
• City Hall is not accessible, which is not acceptable for the center of government where all our public meetings are held. More than a century old, the building has inadequate insulation, wasting significant energy, and is not equipped to support today’s technology needs.
• The public works building is an old metal barn that is nearly 50 years old, with numerous potential safety issues and tripping and shock hazards.
• Our west side fire station was built to residential standards over 30 years ago, leading to long-term issues that need to be addressed. These include a need for proper locker room space, separation in the sleeping quarters for female and male firefighters, and expanded space for training and daily activities.

These significant infrastructure challenges make it harder for our staff to provide the level of service our community expects. This negatively impacts morale, making it difficult to recruit and retain quality staff.

We are kicking off our formal community engagement efforts that will be conducted the next several months to develop a plan for the future of our city facilities that is driven by the community.

Please participate in our first phase of community engagement by reviewing this presentation and filling out this feedback form, which will remain open through Friday, Oct. 11.

Thank you for participating. Together, we will determine our path forward.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Dawkins

City Administrator