Retired City Manager Arthur Pizzano, Fairfield, OH, (pop. 42,770) placed consistent emphasis on meeting the needs of residents and supporting local businesses, while building a strong sense of community. His customer-centric approach yielded measurable results.

Accomplishments include:

• Facilitating a public-private partnership to create an identifiable town center, called the Village Green. The area has become a popular gathering spot to enjoy a wide variety of concerts, performances, and a summer movie series. It also houses a community arts center, library, and amphitheater, as well as a playground and several water features.
• Focusing the Village Green on pedestrians by including a combination of residential and business uses, enhanced by landscaped walkways and interactive sculpture.
• Strategically coordinating the relocation of a new justice center (police and municipal court services) close to the town center to provide synergistic benefits to the entire area.

Pizzano was also known for his fiscal creativity and foresight. By working in concert with Fairfield’s mayor, city council, and staff, the city weathered the economic downturn without having to resort to service cutbacks or staff layoffs.

Watch this video, and hear residents, business leaders, and city officials talk about what makes Fairfield a great place to call home.

Meet the Manager

Arthur E. Pizzano

Retired City Manager

Arthur E. Pizzano was city manager of Fairfield from 1998-2015. He has also served as city manager of West Des Moines, IA; planning director and deputy city manager of Thornton, CO; and community and economic development director of East Orange, NJ. He has a BA and MRCP from Rutgers University and an MBA from the University of Colorado. Art has received a variety of national, state, and regional awards for innovation, cooperative service delivery and effective public-private partnerships, and earned a Certificate of National Merit from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In the mid-2000s, Central City’s leaders identified a number of seemingly-unrelated issues that needed attention:

• Existing housing stock was rapidly aging, but new residential construction was at a virtual standstill.
• A badly-deteriorating trailer park was down to about one-third occupancy next to an adjacent property overgrown with vegetation and an abandoned water pit, creating an unsightly and hazardous area.
• Soccer leagues were flourishing, but there weren’t enough soccer fields.
• The city’s 50-year-old swimming pool was reaching the end of its useful life.
• There wasn’t enough open space for recreation and walking areas.

The city’s leadership appealed to a broad spectrum of community residents and organizations who then came together to develop a proposal to address all these nagging problems.

As they worked, the five key issues coalesced into one solution, resulting in a proposal for the South Recreation Project.

The city held public meetings to solicit ideas on what should be included in the project. Anyone who wanted to be involved could present — and improve upon — suggestions. School students of various ages offered feedback on the design, particularly for the swimming pool.

The result was the South Recreation Complex, which includes a trailer park, new lake, aquatic center, soccer facilities, residential subdivision, and a hiking/biking trail.

Bedford adopted its first affordable housing plan in 1986. As housing prices soared in the 1990s, however, many Bedford residents found it difficult to remain in the town. Hardest hit were residents who’d grown up there; long-time residents who had trouble maintaining their homes as they aged; military families from the local Air Force base; and employees of the town and local businesses.

Though progress toward the city’s affordable housing goals had been slow and steady, many residents agreed that it wasn’t keeping up with demand, and efforts to increase the city’s inventory needed to intensify.

In 1994, Bedford formed a non-profit housing trust. Helped along by donations from developers, the trust began building homes for moderate and lower income families..

More funds for more homes were needed. In 2001, voters approved a small surcharge on property taxes, making Bedford eligible for matching state funding for affordable housing, open space acquisition, and historic preservation projects. Then, in 2002, the Massachusetts Housing Partnership awarded the town a $1 million grant for the development of affordable rental housing.

Between 1995 and 2009, Bedford added 284 units to the pre-existing 176 units for a total of 460 affordable units, representing almost 10 percent of the town’s total housing inventory.

As of 2009, the city ranked fourth in the state for affordable housing, with 18.3 percent of all housing existing as affordable units. The units are dispersed throughout the town, indistinguishable from existing housing. Bedford has realized its affordable housing goals in a way that preserves its small town character while increasing its diversity.