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Residents can share concerns at town hall meeting

ELKINS — A town hall meeting will be offered later this month to allow members of the community to share their concerns with elected officials.

The meeting, which will take place at 5:15 p.m. on Sept. 19 at the Elkins-Randolph County Public Library, will feature Randolph County Commissioner Mark Scott and Elkins City Councilwoman Linda Vest who will be available to address those concerns.

“I was approached by a citizen when I was on city council about two years ago. She was wanting to have an open forum where she could discuss, with the elected officials of the city, about issues that were happening, including cats, dilapidated buildings, etc.,” Scott explained as to how these types of meetings came to be.

Town hall style meetings have been held each quarter for the past two years.

“When I became county commissioner — the city’s problems are the county’s problems — so I continued to attend those meetings,” said Scott, who served as a Third Ward Elkins City Councilman for six years before taking over as a Randolph County Commissioner on Jan. 1.

“It’s an opportunity for any citizen in Randolph County to come and express their concerns with issues they are having,” he continued. “I really like it because it keeps me abreast of what the issues are that are of a concern to the voters.”

Vest said she and Scott are looking forward to the town hall event.

“We will attend it. I’m going, Mark is going. We talk, that’s all,” Vest said. “We’d be glad to have the public there. It’s a nice meeting.”

Kathy Vance, owner of Kathy’s Decorating & Design, is one of the organizers of the town hall meeting.

“I asked Mark Scott two years ago if we could start having Town Hall meetings so that we, the public, could air some of the concerns that we have with things happening in our town,” Vance said. “At city meetings, we are only allowed to speak for five minutes in public comment and many of us felt that we would like to have a ’round table discussion’ to see if we could address our concerns.”

Vance said Mayor Van Broughton attended the first meeting but no Elkins City Council members came.

“Since then, Councilwoman Vest and then (former) Councilman (Rhett) Dusenbury attended along with Mark Scott. The meetings last about an hour and half and its open forum, so if anyone has a concern, they are welcome to attend,” Vance said. “A lot of positive things have come out of these meetings and Commissioner Scott has said that he has learned more from the Town Hall meetings than he learned in the five years that he served on Council because he gets to listen to what people have to say. We all have to work together to improve our town!”

Issues that have been discussed at previous meetings include distressed properties, feral cats, vicious dogs, shoplifting, vandalism, drugs and other crime.

“There is a discussion on distressed properties. That is kind of an ongoing discussion we are having because that’s probably the biggest issue that we hear the most about and is not an easy problem to tackle,” Scott said. “We’ve had topics before about shoplifting from area businesses. We’ve had topics before about the problems with feral cats, with vicious dogs, shoplifting, vandalism and that type of thing. What can we do as a community to attack those issues? These meetings keep us focused on what we need to be doing.”

Scott emphasized that there is no set agenda for the meeting and explained the purpose is to hear concerns of the community so elected officials can work toward resolving perceived issues.

“I don’t go into these meetings with any set agenda or things I’m trying to accomplish,” he said. “I listen to what the voters and people who have attended these meetings say and work the best way I can to help them.”

The town forum style of the meeting allows for more open dialogue as opposed to the time-limited public comment format during a regular city council or county commission meeting.

“I think these meetings would be important anywhere because it’s a download of information from citizens so if you have something that’s going on that you’re not happy about, you have a forum that you can come and express those concerns,” he said. “You can question what’s being done, you can provide ideas of what should and because it’s not in a standard meeting format it opens it up to speak more freely and for us to brainstorm together on possible solutions.”

Scott stressed the meeting is open to all elected officials and urged any member of council, commission or other governmental body to attend the meeting.

“Every elected official in the county is invited to come so if anyone else wants to come they will be allowed to attend,” Scott said. “In the past, the mayor has been there and several councilmen have come. It’s open to any elected official who chooses to come and hear from the citizens.”

He added that the meeting is put on by a group of concerned citizens and he and Vest are merely invited guests to participate in the discussion.

Scott urged individuals in the community to participate in the meeting and share any concerns they may have.

“If someone has any issues or concerns that they would like to talk about with their county government, this is their opportunity to do so,” he said. “We would encourage anyone who does to come out and be involved.”

The next town hall meeting is slated for Jan. 16.

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