Work together to improve Redkey

To the editor:
I would like to address the town wide clean-up project that is underway in the Town of Redkey.
Yes, I am partially responsible because I am one of the five town council members. This council worked hard in cooperation with our town attorney to draft a new ordinance concerning this problem in town. It was talked about, published and voted on at the regularly public meeting on Feb. 19.
The purpose of this is to clean-up our neighborhoods of all types of junk, scrap metal, auto parts, wood, trash, rubbish and abandoned vehicles. No one should have to look at this on a daily basis.
Yes, I am seen riding around town with our town marshal. This is for various reasons. First, all town board members are department heads and supervisors of our different departments, such as water, streets, sewage, fire, parks and police departments. I just happen to be over the police department.
Town Marshal Todd Miller and I are working together on this project and it is a two-person operation and very time consuming. We are looking at all properties in town, driving through all alleys and taking pictures of those in violation.
Those in violation are receiving a warning letter informing them that they are in violation and will have 30 days to clean up their properties or risk a citation and a fine. All photos are documented with an address and the day they are taken. We are also giving out weed violation notices.
The property values in the Town of Redkey have steadily declined over the last 30 years. We no longer have a downtown business district, we have declining population and part of this is due to no jobs in town, drive through town and see all of these neglected properties and say to themselves, ‘I don’t want to live here.’
We are getting complaints from those who are receiving these notices, but none of their neighbors are complaining because we want people to clean up their property. Almost every neighborhood has at least one bad eyesore. It is to benefit each neighborhood so that their property value will go up and provide them with a better, cleaner and healthier environment to live and raise their families.
I hope you will support and back our town council. Come to our board meetings and express your concerns and problems. The more input we can have from our residents, the better we can serve you. Help us restore growth and pride back in our community.
Thank you,
Mike Wright
Redkey