City Manager's Annual Report 2017 | A Year In Review | Page 2

from the office of the M AYO R A N D C I T Y C O U N C I L GREGORY J. ORAVEC MAYOR [email protected] SHANNON MARTIN VICE MAYOR DISTRICT 3 [email protected] STEPHANIE MORGAN COUNCILWOMAN DISTRICT 1 stephanie.morgan@ cityofpsl.com JOHN CARVELLI COUNCILMAN DISTRICT 2 john.car velli@ cityofpsl.com JOLIEN CARABALLO COUNCILWOMAN DISTRICT 4 jolien.caraballo@ cityofpsl.com Dear Citizens and Readers, Incorporated in 1961, our City has come a long way in a short time. Originally marketed around the world, and especially in the northeast, as a retirement haven, we have gone from a sales pitch and bedroom community, where only 330 people lived in 1970, to an award-winning, full-service city that is home to more than 185,000 and counting. There are many things to love about Port St. Lucie. We are blessed by natural resources that epitomize the Florida lifestyle. We are the safest large city in Florida. We’re a large and growing city with an increasing number of citizens, amenities and opportunities, and we’ve kept our friendly hometown feel. We have one of the highest rates of homeownership in the country; and we’re a melting pot, where people of all races and ethnicities live together. Based on these and other strengths, I often think that what makes Port St. Lucie most special is that we are a place where the American Dream is alive and well; and, just as an essential element of the American Dream is the belief that a good life will be even better for our children and the next generation, I believe that an essential element of Port St. Lucie is our great promise. For all that there is to love, our best is yet to come! To deliver on our great promise, here at City Hall and across our more than 120 square miles, your elected City Council and I, along with the appointed City Manager and City Administration, are focused on carrying out a strategic plan that is updated every year based upon your input (cityofpsl.com/strategicplan). An important part of bringing the plan to life is measuring our performance through objective indicators and reporting our results to you, our citizens. Over the year, we try to stay in constant contact, reporting important information and stories through all mainstream mediums, including cityofpsl.com, PSL TV-20, radio, print, digital newsletters, social media and news outlets; and, at the end of every year, starting with the 2017 issue, we will be publishing an annual report to highlight our accomplishments. As you will note in your review of our inaugural edition, a lot happened in 2017. We lowered our tax rate and our debt; started construction on the Crosstown Bridge; broke ground on the McCarty Ranch Water Quality Project; adopted new sober home regulations; built miles of sidewalks; and more. However, I think one of the biggest things to happen in 2017 was that the officials you elected at the end of 2016 joined with the Vice Mayor and I, and a newly appointed City Manager and City Attorney, to form a real team, one whose sole focus is on making Port St. Lucie the best it can be— a safe, beautiful, and prosperous City for All People. We hope this Annual Report gives you a sense of pride in our City, and we encourage you to join us in making 2018 even better. If ever the City Council and I can be of assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us at [phone]. Onward and upward, PSL! Very truly yours, Gregory J. Oravec Mayor