LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Dear Editor: I am writing to express my extreme displeasure with some of our elected and appointed officials in Marshall County. I have had ongoing issues with road situations on Coopwood Road in Mt. Pleasant for about two years and have called in multiple service tickets to the office of Larry Hall and almost all have gone unanswered. After repeated messages left over this time, I have had only one returned call from Mr. Hall back in February of this year.

I have tried repeatedly to get in touch with our supervisor, Eddie Dixon, and out of around 20 left messages I have only talked to the man three times. Each time he promised to intervene and get issues corrected and has failed to follow through with his commitments every single time.

The latest concern was related to a rezoning request to property adjacent to our property. I attempted to contact Eddie Dixon prior to the zoning meeting and after multiple left messages was finally able to get a returned call. He promised to look into it, however, never followed through. I attended the zoning meeting and it was very apparent that the Zoning Committee had no interest in hearing my concerns. Justin Hall was supporting the zoning request and, at best, provided vague and snarky responses to questions and concerns. It was very apparent that the Zoning Committee was going to approve this request regardless of concerns, and as much said so. I wrote letters to Eddie Dixon and attempted to deliver them to him and could find no one that knew where his office was, how to get in touch with him, or where to leave the letters. I mailed them to the post office address listed on the Supervisors website and he claimed to have never received them.

I then attended the Board of Supervisors meeting where they not surprisingly, approved this zoning request with no discussion. Once again, after multiple phone calls and messages, I talked to Eddie Dixon. My request was simply, if the county is going to rubber stamp these zoning requests allowing the county to be overrun with large warehouses and manufacturing facilities, can we at least make them less ugly for the surrounding property owners and people traveling our highways.

I suggested the county put in ordinances requiring the property developers to provide a buffer along the boundaries and install shrub and tree landscaping that would block the view of the warehouses. I have seen this done in other areas and it always makes the development more appealing to the eye and less intrusive. Mr. Dixon told me he agreed and would pursue the matter with state legislators in Jackson and get back in touch with me. After three weeks and no response until I had made multiple phone calls and left messages, he finally called me and changed his story. He then said this would have to be done inside Marshall County and referred me back to Justin Hall. I did get a call from Mr. Hall but received the same answers he provided in the zoning meeting, which was they may require a 100 ft. buffer zone with no requirements on any landscaping. I asked for a copy of the ordinance he referred to and he committed to email it to me ­ still no response as usual.

I have received a real education over the past couple of years on the responsiveness of our elected officials to ordinary citizen needs and concerns. Given the cost to taxpayers for these departments and individuals, I truly believe that we deserve much better service than we are receiving. I would hope that in future elections that all taxpayers carefully assess qualifications, responsiveness, and character of the individuals running for office prior to electing/re-electing candidates.

Sincerely,

Jerry Williams

Mt. Pleasant