INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Independence Mayor Eileen Weir rolled out her vision Friday for the city's future in 2018 and beyond.
This comes at a time when the Independence Center Mall is about to foreclose and a new farmer's market is in the works.
The mayor didn’t speak directly about the mall in Friday’s speech but she did talk about revenue and sales.
A notable part of the speech was about a proposed “use” tax.
Mayor Weir says her city and surrounding cities will ask voters to approve the tax. It will charge people a sales tax when they buy things online or out of state.
“We have approved a lot of taxes for specific purchases, and those taxes have not met the needs of our citizens, so this is just a way to address that loss revenue.," said Mayor Weir.
Mayor Weir talked about a three million dollar investment called the Uptown Farmers Market.
“The Farmer's Market project accomplishes many of the community goals, including increased access to healthy foods and wellness programming, especially for low and moderate income families and seniors and increased economic activity in and around the square," she said. "It opens the opportunity for more community events to build connections between our residents and with our visitors, and provides an enhanced facility for the annual Santa Cali Gon Festival and other special events."
In a few weeks, the mayor will announce a new workforce development initiative.
“In the coming weeks, we will launch IndepWorks, a digital portal connecting job-seekers with local employers, schools, and training programs. IndepWorks is a customized job search application that allows workers to select their education and skills level but also search by other requirements such as access to public transportation and child care."
The “use tax” vote will be in April.
