Council has duty to ensure clean city for residents

Editor:

After having read several recent letters to the editor concerning cleaning up the City of Carrollton, I am prompted to express my feelings as a council member.

The mayor and council members are elected to care for the needs of the City. It is our duty to oversee potential problems and try solving them. Our twice-monthly meetings consist of hearing from our citizens concerning their desires and needs, the planned and scheduled work such as the paving of streets and sidewalks and all other ongoing programs, hearing the monthly reports of all department heads, and reports from other chairpersons regarding programs and grants pertinent to the city.

We also work with all other committees and boards, under the auspices of the city, toward improving our town.

An extremely important facet of our work is keeping the city clean and attractive. This is what our citizens see day in and day out. This is what we hear, both negatively and positively. Some of these final decisions are difficult to make. These are not made on “the spur of the moment,” but studied and discussed.

The subject of beautification is and has been difficult. This has prompted the mayor and council to hire a part-time code enforcement official to help with these needs. This is designed to help our building inspector care for his many other important aspects of the job.

This new person, Art Zook, is working with all his heart to improve the overall looks of our town by enforcing these particular ordinances on the city’s books. It is also important to improve some of these ordinances in accordance with the growth of Carrollton.

Our town cannot become stagnant and remain as it was 60 or 70 years ago. By being a member of the Commonwealth’s League of Cities, it is our duty to go forward with the times. It is our duty to try to the best of our ability to keep Carrollton clean and attractive.

Nancy Jo Grobmyer

Carrollton City Council