Mint Hill Residents, 

As the end of 2021 draws near, it is a perfect time to reflect on the year.  This year, we stood by each other through the loss of several beloved members of our community, financial hardships and so much more. Thank you to everyone who managed to create a bright spot for another person in our town. I saw many acts of kindness over the past year and have watched our community come together to support each other. I am thankful and proud to be your mayor. 

2021 was a busy year for the Town of Mint Hill. A few of the highlights include:  

6,000 feet of sidewalk were completed and 3.14 miles of road was added to the Town-maintained network with 3.5 miles of road repaved or restriped. We have even submitted 4.9 miles of new sidewalk projects for federal grant funding. 

The Town purchased 18.6 acres of land on Lebanon Road near Margaret Wallace for a new Public Services facility.  This will be home to the new fire station, a police storage unit, a fuel depot and Public Works facility.  We are currently in the planning and design phase with an anticipated groundbreaking in fall 2022 and completion by late 2023. 

Public Works planted 34 new crepe myrtle trees at Veterans Park to replace the diseased cherry trees and, this fall, removed approximately 250,000 lbs. of leaves from the parks.  We are in the process of replacing the soccer fields at Veterans Park with turf.  Once completed, the fields will be lighted and accessible all the time during our park hours. 

There were over 200 Code Enforcement complaints filed, over 600 building permits issued, and 220 Certificates of Occupancy issued.  There are five new residential developments in the works.  There has been development in the Mint Hill Business Park and a Planet Fitness is moving forward behind Showmars. 

We hired a new police chief, promoted 2 to Captain, 2 to Lieutenant and 2 to sergeant.  Our police department had a risk review analysis completed by the League of Municipality which resulted in a 14% reduction in our insurance premium. We switched to stratified policing, established permanent shifts for all officers, had 4,457.50 non-mandated advanced training hours, 988 in-service training hours mandated by the State to maintain certification, 18,637 calls for service and 640 crashes to date. 

Our Fire Chief celebrated 25 years of service this year.  The Fire Department responded to 28 structure fires, 1356 EMS calls and 1256 Fire calls this year.  We added three new fire positions, 1 per shift, and our fire personnel received 5649 hours of training this year. 

Although maintaining social distancing at the start of the year, we hosted several successful events, including the I Love Mint Hill photo contest and the Hop Around Mint Hill. In June, we were able to host our first in person event in almost 2 years. We then hosted four Family Fun Nights.  Because we were unable to host Mint Hill Madness in May, it was moved to October and turned out to be the best Madness ever. Just two weeks ago we hosted the largest crowd Mint Hill has ever seen downtown at the second annual Mint Hill Christmas Parade and Tree Lighting. It has been encouraging to see Mint Hill come together to celebrate. 

Let’s continue to be there for our community and be the light for one another as we enter 2022! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Brad Simmons
Mint Hill Mayor