This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

The Council Just Sits

Everyone in Clinton seems to be working harder than the Town Council. Homes are being bought and sold. Businesses and properties that have stood empty are being scooped up. New restaurants and concessions are in the process of opening. The renovation of the train station is almost finished. And the council just sits.

They talk a good game, but we see little action. Obviously they intend to take credit for all the work going on around them, but as for their role of setting priorities on town projects, they have done nothing. The agenda for a recent council meeting included an item I have looked forward to for a year and a half, namely “Council Discussion of Future Projects.” But instead of an outline of ideas, the item proved to be a question. Chairman Chris Aniskovich asked the group if they had any thoughts on future projects. There was a single response.

Those future projects should have been the first discussion that the council had in November 2019. We now have a professional in the form of a town manager waiting to implement the council’s priorities, but almost two years later, those priorities have yet to surface.

The council has farmed out economic development,expecting the Economic Development Commission, a volunteer group who meets once a month, to do that work for it. Signage? It’s been touched on. Blight? It has dabbled with the idea. Pierson? They’ve mentioned it.

Since November 2019, the council has wasted little of its energy or time on what will move Clinton forward, and instead relished the small-town politics we all hoped to leave behind. Our Town Council requires stronger leadership and council members who bring forth ideas, move those ideas forward, and work at least as hard as the residents who elected them.

Carrie Allen

Clinton