Manassas Mayor Gives State of The City Presentation

In the same week U.S. President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union address, Manassas City Mayor Hal J. Parrish II, briefed residents on the accomplishments of his locale in 2012.

The 10-square mile city buzzed with activity in 2012, Parrish said in a recorded video presentation played at Monday’s City Council meeting.

 In August, the city hosted U.S. Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney. Around the same time, thousands flocked to the city for celebrations marking the 150 anniversary of the Second Battle of Manassas.

 Manassas is filled with great opportunities and is beginning to flourish under a city council that encourages development, Parrish said.

Danny Faulkner, community sales manager for Van Metre Homes also appeared in the State of the City presentation to talk about the 58-unit townhome development on Center Street. 

In 2002, Van Metre and city officials envisioned a condo and retail development, but that idea was revamped into the current development known as Olde Towne Square, he said. 

Residents can look forward to the grand opening of the first townhome model this fall, Faulkner said.

The 470 employees working for the City of Manassas met several goals and  had notable accomplishments in 2012, Manassas city manager John Budesky said during the presentation.

Here are a few fire, rescue and public safety accomplishments in Manassas highlighted in Monday's presentation:

•  Implementation of a new E-911 records management system
•  The redesign of police vehicles to show patriotism and to give the department a distinctive identity
• Implementation of computer-assisted E-911 service
• The order of a new pumper and a new tower unit to replace 20-year-old units in use by the fire department.
• Creation of hoarding task by Manassas fire marshal
• The host of a delegation of fire marshals and police chiefs from China.

Juan Rivera, director of the commented on the completed expansion at the airport in 2012.

The extension of the airport runway allows pilots who use the airport to get the maximum performance from their aircraft, Rivera said.

The self-sustained airport met its budget and is slated to remain profitable for another year, he added.

On the subject of budgeting, the City of Manassas Finance and Administration Department won an award for its efforts for the 12th consecutive year, city officials said.

Mike Moon, director of Manassas Public Works and Utilities, said the city completed the color coding on all of its tennis courts in 2012.

Also notable is the Moon said.

The $9.3 million Wellington Road project was also completed in 2012, Moon said.

He is excited about the performance of the city’s electric team, who managed to minimize electrical outages for the city’s 15,000 customers during last summer’s power-zapping derecho.

While surrounding jurisdictions and power companies struggled to restore power to its customers, Manassas, which is its own utility and electric company, had few outages, if any, city officials said.

The City of Manassas Utilities Department also rolled out an e-billing feature that allows residents to view and pay bills online.

Upgrades to the city’s water infrastructure were also completed, as well as law mandated upgrades to the city’s dam .

The dam upgrade project was slated to cost $11.5 million and take two years, but workers got it done in less time and at a savings of about $2 million, city staff said during Monday’s presentation.

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