The chains are broken, and the doors were finally back open at the Caryville Town Hall Tuesday night.
It’s the first time they’ve opened their doors for a meeting in months.
Caryville council members began their meeting addressing a laundry list of issues including suspended trash pickups, and unpaid water bills.
The problems are due to unpaid insurance premiums totaling thousands of dollars.
Newly appointed chairman David Hanes assured residents that they will know where every cent is going.
“We’re not going to come out of this overnight, we’ve not in this problem over night. this has been going on for the last eight or ten years, but now we’re going to nip this problem in the bud because people are going to find out where their money goes if I’m going to have anything to do with it.”
Residents agreed transparency is needed.
“I left, and came back and see how Caryville is going down. It’s not just Caryville it’s the people too. we all used to sit together, but now everybody is splitting and it’s so much a lot going on. there’s a lot of things that people don’t know, that need to know what’s going on in Caryville,” said resident Ella Jones.
Trevor Smeltzly agreed the board and the town are divided.
During the meeting he announced he’s considering running for a council seat this November.
“The town council should be more [open] to the public’s request instead of vetoing and throwing them off to the side, i feel that maybe if everybody could talk, get everybody to agree, we’ll have a better town,” said Smeltzly.
Trash pick-up is scheduled to resume Monday.
Tomorrow the board says they’re holding a workshop meeting to address the town’s budget that hasn’t been in touch in nearly 10 years.
They’re also currently searching for a clerk to handle the money.
