“It’s flawed and it needs to end,” Peter Newport, Gold Hill resident said.
Newport says the city isn’t prioritizing its issues in the right manner.
“Big chunks of the bridge are falling down,” he said. “They’re falling down on the walking path … and they don’t care.”
According to Newport, not only has the council overlooked the city’s infrastructure problems and homelessness, but he says councilors have failed to update it’s website and appoint more staff.
“The last several months I’ve been going to city council meetings and asking them to follow their charter which mandates that they appoint city council members for the vacant seats,” said Newport.
Newport says something drastic needs to happen, which is why he wants to run for mayor and thinks council should step down.
But the only response city officials had to that request Wednesday was by Mayor Chris Stanley who said that wasn’t going to happen.
City councilors and Stanley declined our request for an interview, but Christine Alford, a former city councilor and budget committee member says they’re right on track.
“Everything that they are suppose to be doing they are doing,” Alford said. “They’re fiscally conservative and attending to the business of the city.”
During the meeting city councilors said they are working with the public works department to fix the infrastructure problems and are looking to fill the two empty seats as soon as possible.
The city’s recorder also recently resigned and council is looking to fill that position.
As for the website, which hasn’t uploaded a city meeting since 2016, the mayor says they don’t have money in the budget to update it.
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