Wellington has been bombarded with changes in the past few months. New Fire Chiefs, firefighters and council members, oh my. The position switch that initiated this avalanche of authority was Jack Clark, who was sworn in as mayor following the retirement of Brad Timothy.
Despite the hectic circumstances, Clark has immersed himself in his mayoral duties and how he wants to lead the city. To discuss this vision, Mayor Clark took the time to sit down with the KOAL newsroom and lay out his plans and hopes for Wellington.
“I’ve been on the city council for a while and learning how the city government works. This is the first time I’ve been involved with the government,” spoke Clark, looking back on the day he was sworn in,” I was really, really nervous … I was kind of over the office and learning a little bit and that’s why he (Timothy) approached me to be the interim mayor.”
Moving on, Clark discussed some problems he sees within the city and how he wants to address them. “Right now a lot of the problems are being addressed. We had sewer and water problems and we’re coming to the tail end of that, thank goodness,”Clark continued,” We still have about half the meters for our secondary water that we’re working on. We’ve got a city hall problem that we’re doing a feasibility study to see how to go about getting us a new city hall.”
“ One of the big problems that I saw is our playground and we’re working on that too right now,” explained Clark,” There’s a grant out there to help replace that playground in Wellington City.”
One issue that Clark hasn’t quite figured out yet is communication with the citizens,” We’ve discussed that quite a bit and we do put out an email. It’s on our website and they post stuff, but for our older generation that’s not working. We’ve been trying to figure out how to get in front of the older generation that doesn’t use the new technology. And I haven’t got the perfect idea yet. I’ve even thought about maybe posting a newsletter at the post office.” he continued,” My suggestion would be having people come to our city council meetings … It’s really important to show up to those city council meetings, especially if you see something in the community that you might have a problem with or something that you see that needs to be addressed. That’s the best way to reach out to the city council. It’s the most direct way to do it.”
One hot-button issue in the Castle Country area is small businesses and how we can best support them. Mayor Clark explained how he hopes to aid these businesses in Wellington,” We’re trying to help them out the best we can. We’ve had some interest in some commercial property right there along the highway. I would like to see more business come in. For the revenue because it helps pay the bills. But for our public, you know, I grew up with Charlie’s or Single Stop. And if you needed groceries, they had a little bit of groceries there. Miller’s has that too, but they’re priced for travelers. I’d like to see some stuff to help the citizens who aren’t able to get out and about a little bit. I know the church has programs, but we’re trying to make it a well-rounded deal.”
Speaking on his goals for the city, Mayor Clark reiterated that the playground and bringing in more business were key, but also touched on wanting to make Wellington more community-oriented,” back in the old days, everybody knew everybody. It’s not like that anymore. We want to encourage people to meet their neighbors.”
In closing, Mayor Clark left a message for the residents of the city,” I would just encourage them to come out to our meetings. We meet on the second Wednesday of the month and the last Wednesday of the month. So I just encourage you to come out to our meetings. Make your voice heard.”
To stay up to date with what’s happening in Wellington, you can visit the city’s website.