Mayor Sackman outlines regional economic outreach, expanded sidewalk work and demolition progress

Mayor Sackman told the Terre Haute City Council on May 8 that city officials are pursuing regional economic development coordination and continuing several infrastructure efforts, including expanded sidewalk repairs and ongoing demolition of condemned properties.

Sackman said the city has met with the state commerce secretary and higher-education partners to align regional workforce and economic development efforts; he highlighted Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s Ventures project near Poplar and State Road 46 and said the innovation center has drawn company interest to the area. The mayor framed the outreach as part of a broader strategy to retain college graduates and diversify local industry.

On infrastructure, Sackman reported the city is nearly finished with the first of two sidewalk work orders for the year; the second work order is scheduled to go out for bid the day after the meeting. He said the sidewalk budget doubled this year because of casino-generated gaming taxes, enabling the city to accelerate repairs and try to “catch up” on an 18-year backlog of requests.

Sackman also said the city’s Community Crossings grant-funded paving program is on track, with most paving projected between June and August, and that the redevelopment department completed a first tranche of demolition hearings resulting in removal of 30 dilapidated homes. Jordan Marville, redevelopment director, was present and the mayor said the city is aiming to remove roughly 120 condemned properties per year through more frequent demolition hearings.

Those updates were informational; no formal votes were taken on the mayor’s report items during the meeting.