Taking a Look at 2014

As an appointed official in your local government, I believe it is important to keep you, our citizens, informed about the actions that we take. So today, I want to recap what we have accomplished during the 2014 calendar year.

This past year, the city has invested probably more than we ever have in a long time in downtown Elizabethton -- $218,000. During the summer of 2014 we invested $100,000 in the repair and maintenance of the Elk Avenue canopies. The additional $118,000 comes from the intersection improvements made at East Elk Avenue and Sycamore Street. New highly visible crosswalks and improved sidewalk ramps have improved the pedestrian safety and usability of downtown.

In addition to direct investment, the City Council made a secondary investment this past year to purchase a building and keep the Elizabethton Police Department in downtown. The purchase of the former Richie’s Warehouse building has helped fill vacant downtown windows and kept this government service at the historical center of the city. This building will be used to expand the Police Department into allowing the Criminal Investigation Division and the Administration and Patrol Divisions to all be in one location.

This past year also brought the opportunity for apartments and condos in downtown. The Regional Planning Commission and the City Council approved the relaxing of regulations on downtown living requirements, making it possible for building owners to construct second and third floor apartments. The downtown zone was also enlarged to encourage more development in and around the downtown area.

City Payment Center at the Electric Department was opened in late 2014 and takes advantage of the old layout of the Elizabethton Electric System in order to provide better customer service to our citizens and customers. This new center will provide the same services that are available at City Hall for water, sewer, and electric service. Citizens will also be able to pay taxes at this location as well!

A few other accomplishments this year have been the implementation of monthly neighborhood property maintenance sweeps, $2,500 in grants for computer training classes at the Library, the regulation of flea markets, the opening of the Tweetsie Trail, and many other things!

After reviewing this past year's accomplishments, what vision and goals would you like us to accomplish in 2015? Let’s talk about it!