The citizens of Milford should be very proud of the many new improvements in their town and of its growth.
One of the very best improvements is the new business park. It looks great and it was desperately needed. This was confirmed by how quickly the lots filled up!
We were fortunate that the business park was also able to provide sites for the veterans home, the Boys & Girls Club and the hospice care center — three wonderful additions to Milford.
Much of the credit for having the vision to establish this business park should go to former city manager, Richard Carmean.
The park also became the new home for the city’s operations, which includes the Electric Department, Water and Sewer Department and the temporary administration offices.
Other recent major improvements in Milford are the new library, the Riverwalk, the finance building, the City Hall and the rebuilding (after the fire) of the South Walnut Street businesses. All of these happened during Richard Carmean’s tenure as city manager. The relocation of the fertilizer plant from N.E. 2nd Street out onto Route 14 has opened up a lovely section of the river for a possible future park. And let’s not forget the expansion of the Little League Athletic Park, which benefited our young people.
We have also seen four new developments that were constructed in order to provide low cost housing for people of limited finances. These are the Mispillion Apartments, the new Banneker Heights Apartments, Valley Run Apartments and Colony West Apartments.
By far, the greatest recent challenge to our city officials was how to handle the explosive growth from the several new private housing developments seeking to be annexed to the city. These were all seeking high density housing permits. High density requires the city sewer and water connections. The city was not prepared to suddenly double in size (area) over a few years. These new developments presented many new legal and logistical issues, which included providing them with services, such as electric, water sewer, sidewalks, police protection and trash pickup. All these challenges fell on Mr. Carmean’s desk during his 12 plus years as city manager. He met all of these challenges head-on and he handled them very professionally.
Thus, it is our considered opinion that Richard Carmean was one of the best city managers that Milford has had over the past 40 years and we all owe him a large debt of gratitude for his years of devoted service. Because of his efforts, Milford is now a better place in which to live.
Chuck Moses
Skip Pikus
Ed Steiner
Joe Warnell
Milford, Del. —
