On Tuesday afternoon Evansville Mayor Stephanie Terry gave her second State of the City address 17 months into her term.
She talked about parks, roads and neighborhood improvements and exploring new options regarding the new water treatment plant.
“It's been a good 17 months, and today, you know, I really wanted to set the tone, to let people know that the city is really on the move,” she said.
She also teased something big on the horizon.
“I can't share the details just yet, as much as I wanted to, we're anticipating some exciting business announcements that will boost outdoor recreation, regional connectivity and economic growth with READI funding already in hand,” she said. “We're preparing Evansville to lead in logistics and supply chain development, positioning ourselves for the transformational I-69 Ohio River Crossing.”
Regarding travel, she said there are now lower cost direct flights to Florida and flights to Chicago. She added that there’s talks to bring back flights to Detroit.
But Terry says between her inaugural address and the latest address, her biggest area of concern was building the mandated water treatment plant.
This project stems from a Federal consent decree from 2013, early in then-Mayor Lloyd Winecke's administration.
While his department heads worked on the project, Terry inherited it when she took office in 2024. It was set to cost about $260 million, and rising costs had already led to scrapped initial plans.
But this year, Terry said the idea of using groundwater for drinking water is in preliminary talks with state regulators.
“We're moving towards a mix of groundwater with our Ohio River supply,” she said. “And I think that's going to be, overall, again, a better approach. And it's also gonna save the city $100 million which I shared today.”
This will include new plans for the plant, and there’s no set timeline.
Of the items in her 40 minute presentation Terry said she’s most proud of the Block-by-Block ity cleanup initiative.
“I think every administration, every mayor has some kind of version of that,” she said. “We're bringing hundreds of people into neighborhoods, and it's very visible.”
“I think it's going to make all the difference in how we see our city and how people, you know, want to invest back into it.”
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