Brighton to Address City Upkeep and Maintenance Concerns

Brighton City Council is planning on discussing how to better address the city's upkeep needs at its Aug. 4 meeting.

The action was spurred by residents' complaints at the  about overflowing trash bins downtown, the algae-covered , 's lack of weed-whacking and more.

At the meeting, City Manager Dana Foster addressed the questions and concerns, calling on the City Council to see if resources and money can be shifted around to fix those problems.

"We are taking a look at what we decided in terms of the budget, and possibly re-allocating resources in different areas," Councilmember Claudia Roblee said on Tuesday.

Even though the budget cuts and staff reductions play a role, Roblee said she wonders if more can be done, or done in a different way.

"Can we be more efficient? Yes," she said. "We have gone to the employees and said, 'How can we do things better?' I would like an answer to that question."

owner Keith Karp said that the city has responded well since the meeting to the overflowing trash bin problem, putting out extra receptacles around the Mill Pond during busy periods. 

Other complaints couldn't be resolved right away. Most problems were attributed to the city's budget cuts and a decrease in staff, with Foster reporting a 14 percent drop in the city's workforce over the last four years. The Department of Public Services' (DPS) budget has shrank from $2.05 million in 2010 to $1.86 million this year.

Karp also mentioned at the meeting that the bathrooms at the pavilion were often locked during the weekend. Foster said that due to a lack of staff, he's had the police in charge of unlocking the bathrooms, so when they're called away to events the bathrooms are forgotten.

While no solution was offered by Foster there, he did announce at the meeting that scheduled cleanings of the bathrooms would increase from twice to four times a week, due to complaints about their cleanliness.

One of the ways the city will address the problems is to re-look at the Prioritization of Services Matrix, a packet accompanying the budget (also included above) that ranks city services in each department.

Many of the services mentioned in the complaints are already listed as top priorities, including "Rubbish removal from downtown area and Tridge/walkway," "Perpetual Care of Cemeteries" and "Grounds maintenance, including mowing, trimming and pickup (for cemeteries)."

While the city brainstorms for options with the available money they have, suggested that people in the community are just as responsible for helping to keep places clean.

"We're going to have to depend more on volunteers than ever before," Roblee said. "It breeds ownership of the city."

Roblee encouraged people to come to the Aug. 4 meeting to be a part of the discussion.

"People are more than welcome to come to the meeting and give their input and ideas if they have any," she said. "Volunteers are going to be the backbone of a lot of municipalities."