The City of Paris conducted five town hall meetings earlier this year to listen to citizens, particularly those in West Paris, about city-related issues or concerns.
A meeting to inform the public about the City’s findings and analysis is set for 5:30 p.m., Thursday, December 14, in the auditorium of CitySquare Paris, 2515 Bonham Street.
Several West Paris residents contacted City Council members, sharing that it seemed like West Paris had been left behind compared to other areas. Mayor Reginald Hughes and Mayor Pro Tem Mihir Pankaj then worked with City Manager Grayson Path to arrange the town hall meetings to hear directly from citizens.
“The purpose of the town hall meetings was to help us better understand what ‘left behind compared to other parts of town’ means in more concrete terms,” Path said. “What we heard at the meetings has allowed us to garner context and formulate a
response.”
Some input from those who spoke during the listening sessions highlighted broad topics like a need for more sidewalks throughout Paris. Other concerns addressed individual location issues like a missing street sign or a broken streetlight.
“I’ve reviewed all of our notes from the five town halls and compiled a database that includes over 275 concerns that our citizens voiced,” Path said. “Every concern is being analyzed, investigated and, where possible, assigned to city staff to remedy or develop a plan of action to make it happen.”
Path has grouped all the concerns into 29 topics and ranked them by percentage. The issues most often shared at the meetings related to tall grass, drainage and dilapidated structures.
Path will present more details about the 29 topics and how the City will be working to address the concerns at the December 14 meeting. The meeting is open to the public.
