Rushville Mayor Bob Bridges delivered his annual State of the City address to members of the Rushville Rotary Club at noon Tuesday. The following is the mayor’s report, with very limited editing due to space limitations.

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The year 2005 brought about several changes in Rushville. Several have been for the better. Some were wanted and expected, some were not.

As most of you recall, we ended 2004 with a record 24-inch snowfall, which was followed by a record rainfall in January. I subsequently reported that without the effort of the city, county, state and federal governments having the forethought to plan and construct a levee in Rushville we averted what could have produced similar devastation that we observed in New Orleans and Mississippi, but on a smaller scale.

I must sadly report that we later learned that some property in Rushville did not go unscathed by "Mother Nature’s" wrath.

Two historic buildings received severe structural damage from the load of the snowfall, followed by the impact of the torrential rainfall.

Winkerby’s, owned and operated by Les Blair, and the Wilkinson Building, owned by Darrell and Ramona Wilkinson, both were severely damaged by the effects of the storm.

Of course, when events such as this happen, the City of Rushville becomes involved to protect the health and welfare of the public.

Our fire department, city engineers and our newly formed Code Compliance Department began to work on a solution that would be the most palatable for those involved.

As most of you realize, both of these historic structures, because of the magnitude of the cost to refurbish these structures and allow them to be safe again, had to be torn down.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who worked diligently to accomplish these, what at times seemed to be monumental, tasks.

Les Blair and his business neighbor, Bob Priddy, formed a partnership and worked together on an agreement to demolish a portion of the Winkerby Building on West Second Street and leave the Main Street section intact, which will hopefully be reused as a new business venture for someone in the not to distant future.

The Wilkinson Building was a more difficult task. Even though it was the first to be demolished, it proved to be the most difficult to accomplish.

The sheer enormity of the building was one factor, and the demolition cost to the City of Rushville, because we were forced to seek condemnation proceedings, could have proven to be difficult to manage, as we normally don’t budget for such costs in our annual budgeting process.

There are times in Rush County history we have seen people who see a need step up to the plate and make a commitment. Such was the case on the Wilkinson Building. When it seemed inevitable that the city would be required to bear the cost to remove the building, I received a telephone call, and a subsequent visit from a gentleman, and I do not use that term lightly. George Truster came to my office and told me that he and his wife Mary Jane would like to assist on the project. George told me that they had discussed the matter and felt a sense of duty, not only to his community, but also to his church, to bear the cost of the demolition of the building and construct a parking lot that could be used by the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church, who have a limited parking area for their weekend services.