There’s a lot to be said for life in the City of Wellman, and it’s only getting better.  With new events finding their footing, a revitalized skating rink attracting attention, and improvements to nuisance properties and water management, the city accomplished much in the last year.

“We had a great year,” said Kelly Litwiller, Wellman’s City Administrator.  “There’s a lot going on.  Things are moving forward in the community, and hopefully residents and people within the county know what’s going on and can see that we’re moving forward.”

At the center of that foreword movement is the city’s downtown.  New businesses are starting to fill the storefronts, including JFH Metal Signs & Fabrication, Mid-Prairie student-run The Thrift Shop, and most recently Madeline’s Coffee House.  The Starbeck/Miller building’s new owners are working with the city to rehab the property with the intent to create retail space at the street level and housing above.  The city also distributed $50,000 in grants to five recipients who will improve downtown storefronts and bring in new businesses.

The Goodwin Dining Center downtown has served more meals and held very successful fundraisers in the last year.  From January to November 2022, the center served nearly 7000 meals, with 1542 of those being delivered to Kalona seniors in cooperation with the City of Kalona.  In collaboration with the Kalona Area Chamber of Commerce, Goodwin organized a bus trip for seniors to see the Christmas light display in Mount Pleasant, an activity so enjoyed, the center hopes to organize more trips in the coming year.

In addition to its well-known 4th of July event, the City of Wellman also held Trunk-or-Treat downtown to celebrate Halloween, and Light the Night to celebrate Christmas.  Both events were in their second year, and “both of those were great turnouts,” Litwiller said.  “We plan to continue those going forward and just make them bigger and better.”

The Culpepper & Merriweather Circus also returned to Wellman for the second time, raising $1800 for improvements to Wellman Skating Rink on this go-round.  “It was easy for the city to manage,” Litwiller noted, “And it was great for the community.”

With new management guiding the Skating Rink this year, it has enjoyed greater attendance and profitability than in the past.  Longer open hours that allow for private parties, open skate times, family and adult nights, and themed events have created new interest in the venue, both locally and beyond.  

Another recreational opportunity that saw revitalization was North Park’s disc golf course.  A new 9-hole course was installed in the fall, bringing fresh interest to the sport.

“We started working on nuisance properties,” said Litwiller of another area of accomplishment for the city last year.  “We had two houses that we went after to get cleaned up.  Both of them actually sold in the mix of that because there was no way that they could [make repairs] and so they ended up selling.  One is going to be torn down and a new house will be built, and the other one is being rehabbed.  We’re trying to get things cleaned up in neighborhoods that need to be cleaned up.”

Additional achievements for the city include paying down its debt, which has freed up funds for improvements; using ARPA funds to replace water meters, so that water usage can be tracked and controlled more accurately; renewing its contract with the YMCA, which Litwiller notes “has been great for the community;” and helping the Wellman Heritage Society write a WCRF grant to make improvements to the museum downtown.

Litwiller credits the city’s entire team for the progress that has been made.

“With the public works and the office staff and our senior dining staff and the skate rink, it takes everybody to be able to do what we’re doing, and everybody meshes well together and knows what their role is.  And we want to see the city move forward.  That’s what the end game is.  And we all know that’s what the goal is,” she said.

“We’re looking forward to the next year,” Litwiller added.  “Lots of good things are happening, and I foresee lots more good things continuing to happen.”

One of those good things is the Wellman-Scofield Public Library’s expansion into the east end of the building it currently occupies, a space that previously housed the Senior Dining Center.  The $832,860 project will double the library’s square footage, allowing it to add a programming room, study room, and bathrooms, as well as expand the children’s area and shelf space.  

A WCRF grant awarded last fall provided $632,860 for the project; the remaining $200,000 is funded equally by the City of Wellman and the library.  For the three to five months that the library building is under construction this year, the library will temporarily relocate to a building downtown.

 Another significant project on the city’s agenda is replacement of the majority of the city’s watermains, with an estimated cost of $3.5 million.  Meetings on this project will begin in March and will be open to the public.  

The city also requires an alternative water source, which will require an estimated $1.6 million.  

“Right now, we just have one well that we pull off, which is the Jordan well, and it is extremely old.  Our backup water source that we have has never been good, since day-one that the well was drilled.  The quantity of water that we get is amazing, and it can produce as much water as you want.  The quality of water just is not good.  When it goes through our RO [reverse osmosis] system, the water plant, it messes up a lot of things.  We’ve not run that well unless we’ve absolutely had to,” Litwiller explained.  “We need to find another water source, because if that [primary] well goes down, what are you going to do?”

Work on the Ginko Avenue bridge over Smith Creek on the south edge of town is the last of the more essential projects the city has in view.  Bridge inspections indicate the end of its utility is near, so the city will be working with engineers to upgrade it in the next year or two.

Fun things are in store for Wellman also.  “We’re in the preliminary stages of working with a designer and engineer with a company for a splash pad at North Park,” Litwiller revealed.  “I think it’ll be fun.  It will go up where the sand volleyball courts used to be, in between the playground and the top ball field.”

“I’d like to see some pickleball courts up at North Park,” she added, indicating another source of recreation that could be coming soon.

Finally, more investment in downtown is on the horizon; the city has earmarked some of their WCRF municipal grant funds for new sidewalks and lighting.  

“I figure if businesses are willing to put in money to their businesses, then we should put money into making sure that the infrastructure and the sidewalks and everything is safe downtown, and right now they’re not,” Litwiller said.  

With so much accomplished in the last year, and so much more to look ahead to, Wellman’s city administrator says that the entire city government is united by one guiding principle.

“We’re just looking long term.  What’s the best fit for the city?  That’s our whole goal.  I think that the people that we have in place now -- and I mean, from council, to mayor, to city administrator, to the office staff, to our public works, to our water guy – everybody makes sure that we look ahead to what’s going to affect the people in the long run,” she said.  “Everything that we’re doing, we’re making sure that we’re doing it the right way, and we’re making sure that it’s not going to cause issues for people down the road.”