Wilmington Mayor Pat Haley recently presented the program to the Wilmington Rotary Club, which meets at noon on Tuesdays at the Clinton Memorial Hospital conference center.

Haley said he has been on the job now for about six weeks, and has a new team at the city and over 200 on the staff, all dedicated to making things better for the community.

New staff includes: Mike Cluxton, special assistant to the mayor; Joe Spicer, safety director; Mike Crowe, service director; Dan Mongold, HR director; and David Stewart, superintendent of streets; among others.

Mayor Haley said the city is strong because the people who live here are strong. The city needs to support those people in the community doing their jobs.

Haley also said he knew there were some issues coming into the job, and his team is working to address them.

They are working with ODOT on transit funding and recently received a $2 million grant for new vehicles.

They are working to address issues with the police department evidence room and former chief Ron Fithen has taken that on, along with grant writing and addressing public records requests. Bob Wilson has been named interim chief and a new chief will be selected.

Education is important and getting students safely to their schools is a priority. They are working on more crossing safety.

Housing continues to be an issue and his team is working to engage developers and find solutions that fit the needs of the community and do not change the character of the community, while fitting into the planning.

Haley noted that five of the city council members are new this year.

Haley’s team is working to revitalize the downtown area. He wants it to again be a place to gather, as well as do business.

When Haley was running his campaign, he said two issues were the most prominent. One was homelessness and the other was Rombach Avenue. They have addressed some of the concerns along Rombach and are working to address citizen concerns perceived to be associated with the homeless population.

The transit system had a record 500 riders on Friday, Feb. 23, and Haley believes this is due to reverting to being able to book rides by calling a dispatcher versus just being able to book rides via an online reservation system.