Open letter to the residents of Loveland

By Robert H "Rob" Weisgerber

There are a lot of great things happening in Loveland and we should all be proud of the past accomplishments and look forward to the positive outlook for our City.

There are two ways to look at the issues and successes in Loveland. While we all recognize the need to fill the gaps, by far I think it is appropriate to not look at the glass as half empty but look at it as more than half full!

There are always challenges, but let us look at all the new and exciting things going on in Loveland today. I am proud to have been on City Council for 16 years and especially the last 8 years as Mayor and I thank you for supporting me through 4 different elections and ask you do it again this year.

My wife Teresa and I moved to Loveland 30 years ago to raise our family. We fell in love with Loveland, recognizing it unique beauty and charm. My first committee focused on and drove the re-development of our historic downtown turning it into the vibrant "out door living room" and gathering space it is today.

A few, but not all, of the positive things happening now:

• Historic Downtown "Loveland Station" is ready to move forward. The City expects to enter into a development agreement with a new developer in September. This will be a big step forward, and if it is approved in September or October, development could start in the first quarter 2014.
• 2013 has seen the most commercial and residential investment ever in Loveland
• A positive economic indicator for the Loveland community is that income tax collections are up in 2013 and we have made the reductions necessary to offset the cuts delivered to us by the State.
• Loveland has also seen its housing market recover. The developer of the Reserves of Loveland subdivision went bankrupt in 2008 and the City of Loveland had to step into their shoes to finish the subdivision by creating a tax increment financing district, or TIF, minimizing any use of general funds. We are ready to retire the TIF because of it's success.
• A 40-unit senior housing development is expected to break ground in the first quarter of 2014. This project will offer modest income seniors in Loveland an independent living environment near downtown which will allow them to still live and enjoy the community that they have called home.
• We are trying to save and restore the church on Chestnut Street but not use your tax dollars to do so. At my request, City Council recently decided to issue a Request for Proposal, or RFP, to get proposals for restoring and preserving this circa 1893 church. The key is to balance the needs of the City and the needs of the Church restoration and not put one over the other.
• The City is building a $2.5 million water tower on Union Cemetery to provide needed fire flow and capacity for safety.
• This year has been an excellent year for business recruitment and retention. The City has been fortunate to attract several new businesses and has seen other current businesses expand.

My training and background in the private sector (34 years in different leadership positions at GE) makes me uniquely qualified to drive private sector practices and discipline into the City's processes. Quality systems like Performance Measures and Benchmarking provide the data we need to both show where we are doing well and where we can improve. This provides you the resident with data and not just my word on how well we are really doing.

I am not perfect and have learned from my and other's mistakes and successes. I bring the experienced leadership and the deep background we need to carry the positive momentum we see today forward in Loveland.

I hope you share my enthusiasm for Loveland's future and thank you for taking your time to read this. I ask for your continued support on November 5th.

Please explore my web page (http://www.weisgerber4loveland.com) for more detailed information on my accomplishments, my conservative guiding principals, and my position going forward.

Sincerely, Rob Weisgerber