Sandwich mayor to run for second term

In announcing that he will run for a second term, Sandwich Mayor Todd Latham said he wants to build on the city’s accomplishments in the last four years.

“I want to follow those through to a second term because I think it’s crucial,” said Latham, whose term expires in April 2025.

For example, he noted that even as the reconstruction of North Latham Street is set to wrap up in early September, planning will begin on other street projects.

“We’re going to do a similar type of project for Main Street in 2025,” Latham said. “Then we’ll be looking at doing some other work such as on Pleasant Avenue in probably 2026. I want to follow through on a lot of those initiatives and see how they come out and continue the work we’re doing here. We’ve established a good team for the city and I want to keep that going.”

The city has also been doing other street work as well as sidewalk replacement. In addition, plans are moving ahead to improve the city’s downtown.

“We’re doing murals, banners, some historical projects and then we’re looking at installing antique street lights to enhance the downtown,” Latham said.

“The antique street lights that we have on Center Street, we’re going to be bringing those to the downtown. When you look at all those things, it puts us in a better position to be more welcoming,” he said. “We also have our flower arrangements in the downtown. That’s a volunteer program we started. All these things make us a better place to live and a better place to visit. We want more people to visit Sandwich, do business here and stay here.”

Before being elected mayor, Latham served on the Sandwich City Council as well as on the Sandwich Park District Board. He also served on the DeKalb County Board of Health.

The city also is moving ahead on making improvements to its aging water system along with making improvements to the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Lead service pipes also need to be replaced. The city received a $40,000 grant to start identifying properties that have lead pipes.

Bringing more economic development to the city is also a goal. The city recently hired an economic development and tourism director.

“I think he’ll bring in some good things to the City Council,” he said.

The city continues to expand its staff to meet its needs.

“Since I’ve been mayor, we’ve hired an economic development director and we brought on a code enforcement officer and a city administrator. And we’re looking to hire someone with a finance background to help us prepare for our budget, levy and audit,” Latham said. “We’re going to bring some of that back in-house. We’ll be operating at full speed here soon and be the community that we probably should have been a long time ago.”