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"Forging an Extreme Future."

Welcome all. The overwhelming number of people who participate in events like this and our community meet and greets are testament to the vibrancy of the city. It is true that our City is doing very well, and it is because of the people who are involved at every level, including, but not limited to volunteers, citizens, staff, and business investors. I'd like to recognize some of those people who are here tonight, because they have certainly contributed to the City's progress and the prosperous future we anticipate.

First & foremost, the: Citizens, both private & corporate, who now number over 16,000. It is your participation and perspective that sets the course the City will undertake.

Next, the City Council, who elect the mayor from amongst themselves to serve as a spokesperson; representing the Council at events such as this. Our Council, with direction from the public, has achieved stability and prosperity for the City.

Alex, Bill, Chris, Lisa, Mike, and Deputy Mayor Sandra Hall.

We also have enjoyed great support from a number of our local elected officials, such as:

Jim Jacks, Governor Gregoire's office
Mindi Lindquist, Senator Patty Murray's office
Bob Dingethal, Senator Maria Cantwell's office
Kelly Love and Amanda Dotson, Congressman Brian Baird's office.
Mayor Stacy Sellers, Washougal, Mayor Paul Dennis, Camas, Mayor Joe Warren, Yacolt, Mayor Jim Irish, La Center, Mayor Gladys Doriot, Ridgefield, Mayor Doug Monge, Woodland, Mayor Royce Pollard, America's Vancouver and their collective councilmembers.

Clark County COMMISSIONERS: Mark Bolt, Steve Stuart and Betty Sue Morris

Clark County Fire District 11 Commissioners: Jerry Kolke, Penny Dollar and Bob Johnson.

Richard Kent, Battle Ground School Board

Denny Kiggins and Neil Kimsey, Clark Regional Wastewater District.

Kevin Morse, Mavis Kent, and Tom Schultz from the Planning Commission and Parks Advisory Board.

I would like to recognize all the elected officials present here today for the work they do for their communities and our region. Please stand and give a round of applause.

And last, but not least, the staff who implement the policy and strategy set by the Council. Battle Ground is fortunate to have amongst their workforce some of southwest Washington's best and brightest.

Alisha, Adrienne, Claire, Brian Wolf, Jim McDaniel, Sam Adams, David Reeves, Brian Carrico, Dennis Osborn

I'd also like to recognize my wife Lynda:

Together, the community, City Council and our staff, have created a recipe to forge an extreme future for the City of Battle Ground.

To that end, the City of Battle Ground recently kicked off a three year, $10 million dollar parks capital facilities program. This intensive parks improvement program is the foundation for the city's "extreme" future; resulting in a community that not only provides a comprehensive traditional sports and recreation program, but embraces alternative or extreme sports. Establishing Battle Ground as a destination for outdoor sports carves out a niche for our city to initiate further economic development through tourism and special events. Thereby building on our existing natural landscape and character of our community as an asset for building an extremely prosperous Battle Ground! Each City in the County, every County in the State works hard to bring in new business and jobs. We will also continue to do that, but we are creating a "niche" as part of our economic development strategy.

Not only did the City sustain park operations during 2006, it was a landmark year for additional capital investments in parks facilities. This includes borrowing $6.9 million to fund the construction of the top four city-wide parks initiatives:

First in line was Kiwanis Park, which saw a complete renovation in 2006. This renovation project enhanced many amenities that were currently at the park as well as added new ones with broader appeal to the whole community. In addition, the City partnered with a consortium of private companies and the Kiwanis Service Club, led by New Tradition Homes, Inc. and Sun Country Homes to complete a facelift of the Kiwanis building located in this park. With a grand re-dedication held in September and attended by nearly 1,000 citizens, this park will serve the community for decades to come. A special "thank you" to New Traditions, Sun Country and their partners.

Second in the line-up will be a re-construction of Fairgrounds Park Phase I. Construction began in August, which includes a new skate park, restrooms, and new park amenities which include landscaping and frontage improvements. The skate park, with a collection of over 25,000 square feet of street and bowl features, will appeal to every skill level of skater and be a unique enough amenity that it will draw recreational and professional skaters from all over the region. The construction of this first phase at Fairgrounds Park will spur other complimentary parks development city-wide.

Third in line will be the completion of a new sports complex on 20th Avenue, known as the Remy property. This complex, which will include an assortment of various sized baseball, softball and little league fields, as well as restrooms, concessions and playground areas, will be a destination for all of north and central Clark County when competed in 2009.

Phase II development of Fairgrounds will include a multi-purpose community center in addition to a number of other new amenities such as an event plaza, rock climbing area and an interactive water feature to spur increased activity in Battle Ground's downtown core. The community center is slated to provide space for a number of stakeholders, including a permanent location and "living history museum" for the Rose Float Committee as our float evolves year after year to be the pride of Battle Ground in the Portland Rose Parade. This will help the park to evolve into a flagship component of a larger community recreation vision.

Another exciting project on the city's horizon is working in partnership with Clark County, and the Chinook Trail Association to help guide the Chelatchie Rail/Trail project. The project has already received $600,000 in funding.

This trail would be an adjunct to the county-owned Chelatchie Railroad system that runs from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway near the mouth of Burnt Bridge Creek in Vancouver Lake, through Battle Ground, anchored in Fairgrounds Park, and northeast near Battle Ground Lake State Park to Chelatchie Prairie. The trail would extend beyond Chelatchie Prairie to Yale Lake. The trail system would provide multi-use recreational opportunities throughout the region for equestrians, bicyclists, runners, etc. Perhaps even providing for triathlon/marathon type events in the future - one of our many dreams.

To compliment this project and other regional recreational opportunities, the city hopes to acquire 320 acres of land owned and managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources; held by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources as part of the permanent trust benefiting public school construction in Washington State. Preservation of this land would not only preserve the city's "signature" landscape, but would protect this land as part of a larger overall greenway. Holding in perpetuity quality habitat recreational lands that would connect the City's urbanized downtown with the Battle Ground Lake State Park and the Lewis River Greenway, ultimately providing a contiguous complex of approximately 2,000 acres of preserved natural areas that provide recreational opportunities and environmental benefits for all of southwest Washington.

Wrapping up this extreme element in the city will be the Boespflug Sports Center which is currently in the permitting stages and is planned to include an 86,000 square foot Indoor motocross facility when built.

2006 also presented its challenges and successes for the City, with growth and annexations delivering us to be the second largest city in Clark County. The City continued to experience growth, but in a more moderate nature than in recent years. However, there were significant accomplishments that came to fruition over the past year that will aid us in putting into motion an extreme future for the City of Battle Ground.

Although there was a slight downturn in residential growth rate over the past year, we had a robust year for multi-family housing and non-residential development. As you drive down Main Street, you can see the progress made at Best Western Inn and Suites which was substantially completed in 2006, bringing the first hotel in the City's history, along with a new restaurant opportunity and over 10,000 square feet of new retail space in the spring of 2007. This year the City will also see two new commercial buildings at the Gardner Center totaling 17,000 square feet of additional commercial space. The Kristy Buildings will also be completed shortly. Battle Ground Village is also underway with two new commercial buildings currently under construction. All the infrastructure is complete and the preliminary plat has been approved for 40 "live/work units" as well as the remainder of the residential components of the project. It is also exciting to see the communities prosperity carry over to the schools. The Battle Ground School District began construction on one new school and renovation of an existing school - both projects will be complete by the beginning of the school year in 2007, adding additional student capacity for our growing community. While on the subject of schools, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that our schools and our children are the foundation of our success and the economic vitality of our community. It is because of that belief that I support schools.

LEVY RESULTS - at this point in time I have good news delivered by Greg Kimsey - the levy results are at 61.44%!

Contributing to the success of our children will be the new 13,000 square foot Battle Ground library to be the anchor for the Battle Ground Village site located at Commerce Parkway on the east end of the City. This substantial infrastructure investment will posture the community to receive even more economic potential in the coming years. I want to congratulate the Friends of the Library, especially two volunteers - Jane and Don Higgins, Fort Vancouver Regional Library and our community for getting this project off the ground. Through their efforts, construction is scheduled to begin this year and they are approximately 80% fully funded. The success of this grassroots effort is indicative of the dedicated people we have in our community. Their accomplishments will bring a beautiful new library to our community that people throughout most of north Clark County will be able to benefit from! I'd also like to recognize the contributions made by Dennis Pavlina towards this project.

The combination of increased population and new commercial services in 2006 reinforced the City's role as the social and commercial hub of north and central Clark County. Overall, the City's assessed value grew to just over an estimate $1 billion, approximately 25% increase over last year, which combined with new construction in 2006, reflects continued strong investor confidence in the City. Further, the capital investments completed in water, sewer and transportation facilities all serve to enhance Battle Ground as a viable and vibrant place for economic investment. Other capital facilities on the horizon are the 219th/ I-5 Interchange project to begin this fall and the North Parkway Improvement project to begin in 2008; both of which have received funding from the State. We will continue to work on the timeline of construction of the widening of HWY 503 from Battle Ground City limits to the new interchange. These transportation infrastructure improvements are key to economic development.

We will look to our community partners, such as the School District, the Chamber of Commerce, the Library, and our citizenry, both private and corporate for support in furthering our vision of establishing Battle Ground as a destination for outdoor sports, both extreme and traditional. It will be through our collective success that we achieve our ultimate goals.

This community has had many successes in the volunteer department.

Recognition of:
North County Community Food Bank
Rose Float Committee
Citizens for Better Schools

We have a stellar success right here in our community of the extreme impact that one person can have by benefiting the lives of others, and in turn, making our community a better place to live. A very special 12 year old member of our community, Cassie Hubbard, has for the last two years decided to spend her Halloween nights collecting canned food and passing out information on the North County Community Food Bank rather than Trick-or-Treating to collect candy for herself.

Many of the things I have covered tonight, such as our investments, our growth, the countless volunteer hours, etc. have resulted in us forging ahead towards an extreme future for our community.

Thank you for what all of you do to contribute to our extreme success!