On January 2, Mayor Dave Retterer made his annual report to the Village of Ada Council, as required by Ohio Revised Code - Title VII Municipal Corporations - Section 733.41. The following is his prepared speech.
The Village of Ada is composed of a variety of industries, businesses, people, of churches and opportunities. These comprise one of the many strengths of this village. An international company that could have expanded to a collection of other places chose to expand in Ada. A couple of Ada High School and University of Findlay college friends have chosen to invest in properties in Ada to build a brewery. Each of two couples from the region purchased an existing business and put their stamp on it. The pandemic caused a lot of problems for residents and the village itself. It appears that 2024 can be much better.
The finances of the village are recovering from pandemic times thanks to the good work of the councilors, administrative team and the work of the people of Ada. However, the finances of the Village are solid due to the good work of the Fiscal officer, of the members of council and the many decades long attitude of council toward good stewardship.
The community thrives in other ways, as well. The several festivals that occur in Ada attract people from some distance to visit and be entertained and we can thank the Ada Chamber of Commerce for that. The flower pot program founded by, and still supported by Dr. and Mrs. Debow Freed's foundation and others. Many businesses and industries supported Magic on Main, which allowed the village to redecorate the Main Street Light posts, was supported by the county, by many businesses and others. It was quite successful and that is expected to last for many years.
Two items on the horizon for the village this year are difficult to plan for. One is the eclipse in April 2024 and a Fireman's Festival celebrating 150 years of volunteer fire organizations in June 14th and 15th, 2024. The reason
it is so difficult to prepare for (especially the eclipse) is that it is hard to estimate the crowd size, but work is being done on that.
Many projects are on the table for future years. Planning, pricing, funding, bidding and construction can take as 5 or more years. Fortunately, we have employees and locals that know how to do that and we have people with the county, state and federal government who regularly help (especially with funding).
Overall, I rate the current position of the village quite good and expect that to continue for many years.
Dave Retterer
Mayor of Ada, Ohio
January 2, 2024
