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Elkins offers City Expo as part of Municipal Government Week

Firefighter Tyler Harris shows off one of the Elkins Fire Department’s engine trucks to, from left, Natalie Sutton, Sophia Gillispie and Alexander Gillispie.

ELKINS — City residents had a chance to learn more about their local government during an exposition Wednesday evening at the Elkins Recreation and Event Center as part of Municipal Government Week.

Municipal Government Week kicked off on Monday with a tour of the Elkins Fire Department and continued on Tuesday with mock city council sessions for Randolph County Schools students. Wednesday’s exposition was a chance for people to learn more about the administrative side of municipal government.

“This event was designed for our city officials to show what they do – their daily work and their projects,” City Clerk Jessica Sutton said. “I think a lot of times people don’t realize everything our city government does and how many parts of their lives it touches.”

The city’s departments and various offices had informational booths set up, and some, like the police and fire departments, conducted demonstrations.

“We have representatives here from everything from the tree board to the library. I think people don’t always make the connection that city government has a finger in just about everything,” Sutton said.

The city’s operations department was a prime example. With the construction of a new water plant and massive infrastructure work currently in progress, that particular department is involved in a project that will affect literally every resident of the city.

Operations assistant Melody Himes said, “We’re here so that we can talk to the community members about what we do in the operations division. We’re really focused on the water project. We have information showing the past, the present and the future and how our water plant is going to differ from what it is now.”

The exposition was a great way to get additional information about the project out to the public, Himes said.

“It’s important for us to be able to get information to residents during process of construction. We have two contractors working on four different contracts. We feel like it’s really important to keep everybody informed,” she said.

Terrill Roth is supervisor of the city’s sanitation department. He was at the exposition to highlight things people may not know about his department.

“I brought a truck so people can see what their money is being spent on. They’re a big piece of equipment and a big cost to the city,” he said.

It’s good for the public to get an inside look, Roth said.

“I can only speak for my department and what we do. A lot of people don’t realize what other people throw away. There’s quite a bit of danger in what we do. We’d like for people to understand that,” he said.

Firefighter Tyler Harris of the Elkins Fire Department brought an engine truck to give the public an idea of some of the equipment required for firefighting.

“I brought one of the engine trucks to show the public the equipment we carry on the truck,” he said. “I think it’s good to constantly educate people on what all we do on a regular basis. It’s expensive and it continues to get more expensive as the years go by.”

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