Mayor Blad gives 2019 State of the City Address for Pocatello

At Thursday night’s city council meeting, Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad gave the annual State of the City Address.

He highlighted the many changes and accomplishments the city saw in 2018.

“I think 2018 was a great year for Pocatello,” Blad said. “We’ve seen a lot of new growth, new things happening – with our Northgate project, that’s going to be exciting to watch that happen, our downtown area has been growing and has been very successful so 2018 was great for Pocatello. I think 2019 is going to be even better.”

Some of the highlights mentioned in Blad’s address included construction growth, with the city issuing more than 3,300 new building permits in 2018.

Other topics included bringing fiber optic cable to the city, buying three new fire engines, new exhibits at Zoo Idaho to enhance visitors’ experiences, the city’s new glass recycling program, the progress with the Portneuf River vision project, and several more.

Blad said 2018 was successful for the city and he looks forward to seeing what 2019 has in store.

“I will tell you it’s an exciting time to be on the council, it’s an exciting time to be mayor at this point,” Blad added. “2019, as I see it, looks to be even busier and more exciting to be a part of our community. We will see more growth and economic development, we will see more activities happening and we are moving in the right direction and that’s really exciting.”

Blad also mentioned one of the more recent changes the city is pleased about is passing the hands-free ordinance, which bans cellphones while driving.

The complete State of the City address is included below.