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Just how is the city of Houghton doing?
The City Council got a look at their Performance Dashboard, a snapshot of trends in the city over the last couple of years, at their regular meeting Wednesday.
City Manager Eric Waara presented the report which shows gains in many of the Fiscal Stability and Economic Strength categories with the only drawbacks relating to pensions, a number skewed Waara said because a single retirement can have a huge impact on the numbers when there are so few employees.
The Total Assessed Value of the property in Houghton has actually increased, a trend Waara said few areas can claim.
Most noticeable were the improvements in Public Safety which showed significant drops in the number of violent crimes, property crimes and traffic injuries or fatalities.
The report is available to the public from the City Center.
Speaking of traffic accidents, a new traffic light is on order and is expected to be installed on M-26 at the Walmart entrance in 2016.
The location is known to be a hazardous place for motorists, especially during peak traffic periods.
Waara stressed that a traffic light does not automatically make an intersection safer and the city is looking at additional ways to lighten the load.
Some suggestions included motorists using Ridge Road and Razorback Drive more frequently to avoid the intersection, or utilizing public transit and riding bicycles to reduce the number of vehicles on the road.
Local law enforcement agencies have a new tool to track down stolen property.
At an Investigation Training session earlier this week, a website, developed by the Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Department, was unveiled that would be used to list stolen property throughout the area.
Any police or sheriff’s department can access this information so they can be on the lookout for the property if it surfaces in a nearby city or county.
The city council heard a presentation from the Copper Country Christian School Lego League Team, called the Lego Junkies.
The group of students introduced their idea to improve recycling in Houghton by making several drop points available to residents throughout the city.
The city would then be responsible for picking up the recyclables and transporting them to a recycling center.
The council said they would include the idea in their discussions on the topic in the future.
