Lanett Restoration Committee participates in Spring cleanup
BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LANETT — Local leaders and members of the community gathered in front of City Hall in Lanett for a trash pickup effort on Saturday, April 11. Volunteers, supplied with work gloves, yellow safety vests, trash buckets and picker tools listened on as Restorations Committee Chairman Steve Wheeler informed them about the day’s cleanup activities. This particular cleanup was part of the People Against a Littered State program also known as Alabama PALS with other similar efforts taking place across the state on this same day. The focus for the day was placed on Phillips Road near Highway 50 beginning at 30th Avenue, which had been identified by the committee as a high trash zone.
Restoration Committee member and Lanett City Council Member for District 4 Charles Brandon Bagley shared the intention in creating the event and organization to inspire locals to take part in creating a cleaner community.
“We developed the Restoration Committee about five or six years ago in the hopes that we could take some pride in our community and find ways to help give back in a meaningful way,” he said. “We decided to enact this Restoration Committee to help restore our city to the standards that it used to be in. It is a completely, 100% volunteer organization of citizens who are stakeholders inside the city of Lanett from pastors to influential people in all different walks of life.”
Bagley explained how the mission is accomplished by the committee.
“Throughout the month we survey the city and for one Saturday each month we form our committee together of different stakeholders and volunteers from around the city and we concentrate our efforts in one area to help clean up the city,” he said. “Our Committee Chair Steve Wheeler carries out the plan to direct traffic and let people know that this is the area to focus on with each particular cleanup. We use resources from the city, some of our lawn services committee, the grounds committee. They come in and they support hauling the trash off. We are responsible for picking up the trash, putting it in bags and making sure that it is in the area of focus so they can come and find it and pick it up.”
Bagley said he is able to see the difference the Restoration Committee’s efforts, alongside help from volunteers, are having on the cleanliness of the city of Lanett.
“There has been a definite reduction in repetitive areas that we have to clean up,” he said. “Some main fairways are always going to be a problem. We are hoping that if we continue to pick up these things, people see us out and active each month and they are more inclined to reduce their littering. It is multifaceted. As long as you know that your city is in good standards, you find new people to come in and want to invest in your city. Citizens tend to take more pride in [a clean community], and we can get other things accomplished because we are not overshadowed by overall blight. If we continue to put forth our efforts to clean up our city, ensure that it looks presentable then we can focus on other needs and improvements like our infrastructure. We don’t want to be overshadowed by a basic thing like trash.”
