Nearing the end of his first term as Hartford City’s Mayor, Dan Eckstein has officially filed for re-election. “We’ve made great strides during my first term and there is still a lot that I would like to do to continue to make Hartford City and Blackford County better,” said Eckstein of his decision to run for another term.
“My first term has been interesting, challenging, and rewarding all at once,” said the Mayor. “In the last three years I’ve learned so much and now realize just how much hard work that local elected officials put into their jobs,” he continued. “They have a lot on their plate and make decisions daily. I try to base my decisions on what is best for the community in the long run,” he continued. “I feel it is important for a Mayor to listen to the public. I work for the public to try to make Hartford City the best it can be,” he added. “I try to look at all aspects of a situation and do what is best. People may not always agree with my decisions, but there may be some factor that they are unaware of which causes me to lean in a certain direction,” he explained.
“I’ve been blessed to have strong department heads. All of them are hard-working. They all understand their roles and do a great job at them. During my term, we’ve worked aggressively, and within our budget, to raise the pay of our City employees to be more competitive,” he added.
“We’re working to improve quality of life here in Hartford City and Blackford County that will make people want to live here,” said the Mayor. “One of the areas that I’ve focused on is infrastructure,” he continued. “We’ve done a lot to improve our water quality,” stated the Mayor. “Our water system is old and outdated and now is the time to fix that. People don’t like to spend money on things that they cannot see, but many of our water pipes have been there for 50 or 60 years and in some cases even longer. When you turn on your faucet you want clean water and you want that water to go where it is supposed to go. We’ve received around two million dollars in ARP money and OCRA grants to pay for work on our water plant, the water towers, and some of the mains. This work has been long overdue,” the Mayor added. “We’ve also run our lines out towards the high school and Gillman Home Center, laying down some infrastructure for potential businesses and housing developments in the future,” he continued.
“We have also done a lot of work to improve blighted properties within the city,” said the Mayor. “Demolition is costly so it has been a slow process, but we are slowly making progress on this front,” stated Eckstein. “Most of our housing in the city was built before 1989. We’re doing our best to remodel some of the housing we own and to attract new housing to the community to help attract people to our community and improve our property standards,” he continued.
“The community is continuing to build momentum and improve the quality of life here in Blackford County,” stated Eckstein. “We’ve got a lot of good people working together to improve conditions. The City and County Councils have been collaborating well, which is something that we’ve not had very often in the past,” added the Mayor. “Good things are happening, and as they continue to lead to more good things,” he continued.
“New businesses have been established. The new “Dollar Tree” just opened and we have been talking to people to attract more businesses to Blackford County,” said Eckstein. “The Chamber of Commerce will now be located in City Hall. There will be a full-time employee who will talk to our business owners to help promote their businesses and keep them within our community. This person will also try to attract new businesses into the community,” the Mayor continued. “It is important to have a Chamber of Commerce that is engaged with the community,” he added.
One of the things in the community that people have been watching is the redevelopment of the old Newberry building. This project has been going on for some time. “We are continuing to work on the project,” stated the Mayor. “With City and County government involvement it has been a very slow process,” he continued. “There have been times when we thought we were nearly ready to go and then something would pop-up and slow the process again,” added Eckstein. “You can’t just bulldoze your way through these things. Doing things the right way often takes time. It has taken much longer than we would have liked, but we will eventually get there,” stated the Mayor. “The building is not for sale. We are looking for tenants to fill in the spaces,” he added.
“If re-elected, I hope to continue the momentum we have begun, and do my best to make Hartford City and Blackford County a better place,” stated Eckstein.
![[2 HOUR] TRY NOT TO LAUGH CHALLENGE 🤣 Funny Scare Camera Fails Compilation | AFV 2023](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/hartfordcitynewstimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/d6/4d6c8700-518e-5b8f-8e85-875148318f75/63d52c5491ba7.preview.jpg?crop=720%2C720%2C280%2C0&resize=720%2C720&order=crop%2Cresize)
![[2 HOUR] TRY NOT TO LAUGH 😂 Never Getting 'TIDE' Of Water FAILS 🌊 Video Compilation | AFV 2023](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/hartfordcitynewstimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/9/9e/99e5d444-5d34-55fd-b0c3-e6cb16b86db2/63d67d5db964d.preview.jpg?crop=720%2C720%2C280%2C0&resize=720%2C720&order=crop%2Cresize)
