MT. AIRY — Interim Mt. Airy Police Chief Tim Jarrell and his officers are working to address citizen concerns in the town.
"We've had citizens to come to us and say that their streetlights haven't been working, and we've contacted Georgia Power and Habersham EMC and have developed a good working relationship with them," Jarrell said. "We explained to them the situation as far as the streetlights are not working properly, and within a few days they came out and got everything working correctly."
Jarrell said now that the town has a system for reporting improperly functioning lights, town residents can help keep the city illuminated.
"We're asking that if any citizens are having any problems with any streetlights in their neighborhood, if they would contact the police department and let us know, and we'll do what we can to get them operational," Jarrell said.
Councilman Ray McAllister raised a concern about junk vehicles in the town.
"Riding around the city, I noticed that we're starting to accumulate a lot of abandoned cars, or cars that don't have a current registration or they've got the wheels off of them laying everywhere," McAllister said. "I think our ordinance does state that they have to be in a covered environment."
McAllister asked that the town's police officers make notes of such vehicles they observe while on patrol so officials can start addressing them.
"It's been about five years since we did a round-up on it," McAllister said. "I think that needs to be done again."
McAllister said he hasn't received any major complaints about inoperable vehicles in the town, but has received questions about the issue from residents.
The non-emergency number for Mt. Airy Police Department is (706) 894-2986.