Cedartown looking at new project for better informed citizens, tethering law coming soon

The problem: local residents just aren’t all that well informed on what government can and can’t do.

A solution put forth by Public Information Officer Aimee Madden to the Cedartown City Commission last week during their work session: start up some classes.

Meant for a small group of people who might be interested in learning more about how local government operates, Madden put forth the idea that to get better informed citizens, someone needs to offer up the knowledge.

The program, which she is tentatively calling “Cedartown 101” would meet regularly during the spring or fall months as local residents who are involved in government on a regular basis are sought out as the educators.

Madden said she felt the program modeled after one developed in the the City of Griffin

for local residents, would solve a lot of problems and might help in alleviating resident complaints before they spread around by giving people a chance to understand what’s going on.

“It’s mainly geared toward regular folks who just want to understand more about what’s really going on locally,” said Madden.

She said the cost wouldn’t be much - enough to come up with marketing materials and t-shirts were Madden’s estimate - and said that it could solve a lot of mysteries for local residents who are curious about many issues.

“A lot of people don’t really understand how local government works,” she said. “For instance, I neve really considered what happens when you turn on and off the faucet of your sink, but it takes a lot of work to get water from the stream into your kitchen and back.”

No decision was yet made about whether the program would be officially put in place, but commissioners agreed the idea was sound and

worth pursuing.

Animal tethering measure up for vote

Cedartown is hoping a new ordinance will provide multiple benefits should the commission have approved it to go on local lawbooks during their Monday session after press time.

City manager Bill Fann said the city chose to model its ordinance off of an existing measure already in place in Athens-Clarke County that sets up the rules allowed for the tethering of animals outside.

The issue was previously brought up as one way to bring about cleanup efforts within the city limits, forcing local residents to improve conditinos for their pets and cut down on what Commissioner Jordan Hubbard saw as one of many issues within the city surrounding blight.

If commissioners voted to approve the issue on Monday, it would provide for penalties for those caught tethering their animals outside without several things in place, such as adequate food, water and shelter for their pets.