ESCANABA — As the year comes to a close, officials in Escanaba are preparing for the new year ahead — and hoping for a better year than 2020.

“I can tell you honestly, I am looking forward to a much better 2021. 2020 has not treated us well. We’re all very expectant of better times,” said Escanaba Mayor Marc Tall.

Tall said one of his personal goals for the coming year was to encourage residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine whenever it is made available to them. On a personal note, he recalled the loss of friends to the disease and how restrictions put in place prevented him from celebrating his 50th anniversary with his wife, Maggie, but he expressed pleasure with the strength the community has shown in the face of the virus.

“I am pleased with the way our community has toughened it out. These last few months have been pretty rugged,” he said.

One key thing Tall hoped for in the new year was a return to in-person meetings. Thanks to adjustments to the Open Meetings Act, the city has been able to meet and conduct business virtually on the Cisco WebEx platform. While the city has been able to operate with the Zoom-like meetings, the meetings lack a personal element and are limited by things like poor internet connections and new and sometimes cumbersome procedures for things like public comment periods.

“There are things that have to be done to keep the city operating, and we’re doing them in the best way we can, but we all wish we could do it in a different way,” said Tall. “Back to live meetings; back to actually seeing people and hearing from them in person — it’s just a big change. Such a big change.”

Chief among Talls goals for the coming year was to be able to focus more directly on the traditional concerns for the city — things like budgets and infrastructure.

“I’m looking towards a return to something close to what we have before and we can worry about things like road repair and making sure our public safety department has everything they need to continue to opperate in the fine way they have. This has been a very tough year for all our city workers and I’m just hoping for the best,” he said.

While typically not a celebrated time in the city, Tall pointed to the upcoming budget process as a positive step towards normal.

“That’s a bit of normalcy. That’s a regular, annual thing and I’m glad to point it out as saying it’s what we have to do, but we’re looking forward to this as a step towards returning to some normalcy,” he said.

City staff have already begun working out their wants and needs in the 2021-2022 fiscal year, but the city council’s meetings and final touches to the document will begin soon.

One of the city’s services that was particularly hard-hit by the pandemic was the city’s library, which was forced to close its doors to the public for most of the year. However, that didn’t stop the library from offering whatever services it could to residents.

“At the library, we are proud of launching new virtual and remote service options to continue to keep citizens connected during the pandemic, including drive-through service, an enhanced 24/7 digital library, online e-card registrations, drive-up WiFi, circulating hotspots, virtual programming and staff assistance via Zoom,” said Escanaba Public Library Director Carolyn Stacy.

City Manager Patrick Jordan, who sought Stacy’s input for this story, described the library’s work as “impactful.”

Jordan did not comment directly on his goals for 2021 or his thoughts on the close of 2020, but he did provide the Daily Press with a 26-point list outlining accomplishments in 2020 and goals for the new year. Many of the points echoed Tall’s, including a return to in-person meetings, a sense of normalcy, and the ability to gather with friends and neighbors. Specifically, he hoped people would be able to once again gather at annual events in the city’s parks and at the annual Christmas Parade, which was canceled this year.

Under accomplishments, Jordan started off his list with “We got thru this year,” before celebrating the city had no layoffs, furloughs, or disruptions to employee’s family benefits as a result of the virus or the subsequent restrictions. He also noted there were some positive tests among the city staff, but generally, the staff was healthy and every department was willing to put in extra effort to ensure services were delivered to residents.

As far as projects in 2020, Jordan said the city made good progress on the new wastewater treatment plant, had no accidents or hiccups after taking over crossing guard responsibilities from the school district, was progressing on the demolition and redevelopment of the old Delta County Jail, successfully converted to BS&A billing software, expanded the city’s solar farm, made progress on park restoration projects, and made progress to move planning and zoning into the “digital age.”

He also said the city finished the 2019-2020 fiscal year budget “in the black” by several hundred thousand dollars. For 2021, Jordan said he wanted to “continue to be budget-conscious and maintain a continual awareness that we are spending our residents’ hard-earned money.”

For project in 2021, Jordan wanted to keep on schedule for the wastewater treatment plant, get work done on the water distribution system and water treatment plant, finish an agreement for a land-swap with the school district, work towards the creation of a new “splash park” where the Webster Wading Pool is now, finish restoring the city’s fountain, continue treating the city’s trees for emerald ash borer, construct a non-motorized pathway, and make progress towards advanced metering infrastructure for city utilities.

Jordan also had a few goals that were less tangible. He wanted the city to become more resilient in its operations, to help the local economy recover, and to reach a positive outcome for the city in the ongoing Dark Store case — hopefully, with legislative action.