City of Omaha Mayor’s Office

September 28, 2011 – Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle, along with his wife Deb, received their flu shots today at the City’s Health Fair, held at the Fire Union Hall. The Fair is designed to promote the City’s new Health and Wellness Plan which begins in January. The goal is for city employees to adopt healthy lifestyles which could significantly cut down on the City’s health care costs. “Research clearly shows that employers who invest in wellness generally see savings with a drop in health claims, fewer sick days, less turnover and greater productivity,” said Mayor Suttle. “Right now between 70-90 percent of health care spending comes from preventable and modifiable health risks such as smoking, a lack of exercise, stress, obesity, high blood pressure, not wearing a seat belt, and high alcohol use.”

The Mayor is encouraging employees to take advantage of the Wellness Program offered by the City.
Statistics show that the average employee has between 2-3 health risks which translated to around $1.2 million in costs that could be avoided. It also means an average cost of $800,000 in lost productivity, and around $117,000 in missed days of work. “Our City’s Health Care costs continue to rise, and are unsustainable at their current rate,” said Mayor Suttle. “$56 million, nearly 10% of the 2012 city budget, is devoted to employee health care. Currently, Omaha ranks near the bottom, 142nd out of 182 cities, with respect to obesity, nutrition, physical activity, smoking, and drinking. In the past 15 years, Omaha has seen an 80 percent increase in obesity rate and our hope is to bring that rate down.”

Mayor Jim Suttle receives his flu shot at the City Health Fair with his wife, Deb

September 20, 2011 – Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle was one of 50 Mayors who met with President Barack Obama’s key policy advisors at the White House today to discuss jobs initiatives and how cities can invest in vital infrastructure. All 50 Mayors met with Nancy Pelosi and 8 other Senate and House representatives as well to share local concerns.

“We asked that a portion of the assistance aimed at creating jobs, and meeting local infrastructure needs come directly to cities and not only to the state for discretionary distribution,” said Mayor Suttle. “The President’s plan also proposes a new Pathways Back to Work Fund that will provide our city’s youth and adults with opportunities to work and achieve job training in growth industries. This initiative will bring hundreds of much-needed jobs to Omaha.”

Mayor Suttle will be in Washington, DC tomorrow, Wednesday, continuing his participation in the US Conference of Mayors Fall Leadership Conference. Tomorrow, Mayor Suttle will be speaking with representatives of the Mayor’s Water Council and EPA to discuss the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) project. It’s an unfunded federal mandate which is currently set to cost our city $1.7 billion dollars. He and the other Mayors will be talking about a better system of sharing costs which are currently unaffordable for hundreds of cities across America, including Omaha.

The US Conference of Mayors (USCM) promotes the development of effective national urban/suburban policy and seeks to ensure that federal policies meet urban needs. Founded in 1932, the USCM is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more.

September 20, 2011 – The Suttle Administration’s Office of Sustainable Development will be able to save Omaha taxpayers money by implementing energy efficiency measures in city buildings. The Omaha City Council unanimously approved the Energy Services Performance Contract (ESPC) enabling the City to increase energy efficiency and decrease operating costs.

The ESPC will help promote energy efficiencies in 25 of Omaha’s municipal facilities, including, the Library branches, Police and Fire Departments, Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Public Properties. The projects include lighting upgrades, sensor controls, vending occupancy controls, internet-based programmable thermostats as well as heating and cooling system replacements.

Each department will share in the savings from the reduced consumption of energy, guaranteed by Siemens and Nebraska State law. The program is fully funded by the Department of Energy’s “Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant,” and is not paid for with City funds.

Facility management and the Office of Sustainable Development will work with Siemens Industries to hire vendors and purchase new equipment to be installed. The bid, contracting, hiring, project management, construction and implementation for the projects will all be done by Siemens with input from the City. All work will be completed within a one year time frame.