I want to thank Mr. DeWitt Andrews and Mr. Kevin Andrews from New Home Baptist Church for coming over and helping this 77 year old man clean up his yard after hurricane Irma. As a deputy of this county called it, me and my wife used "that old brown truck" to haul off 3+ truckloads of limbs and yard debris left for me to clean up. I live just outside the city limits. Traveling through town to get to my house, I observed the city picking up yard trash that was piled in front of the houses. I have lived in this county all my life and I am most disappointed in our current leaders and county commissioners. The day after Irma visited this area, (Tuesday) I and others attempted to clean our yards and bring the yard debris to the county dump sites. However, they were closed!
I contacted a county commissioner and was told only one of 5 county commissioners voted to pick up our trash beside the road as they have done in the past, but that the dump sites would be open on Wednesday. Then we received a phone message telling us to take care of our yard trash in our own backyards, so as to not overload the dump sites. We pay taxes for those sites to be open and to dispose of our trash.
The county commissioners did not assist in any way to help the tax payers concerning this matter. I did not observe any commissioner traveling the county roads and checking on their people to see if they needed anything. I am very disappointed in the leaders of Madison County and the way this was handled. Even President Donald Trump helped more than our commissioners in the cleanup efforts by providing FEMA monies for others to come and assist in the restoration of our area. As I drive the roads in our area I see people from different parts of the country coming to assist in cleanup efforts on roadways in Madison County. But our own county commissioners did not assist the taxpayers at all in this matter so; I wonder what do we need county commissioners for if they are not going to assist the taxpayers when help is really needed? I hope all taxpayers remember this when election time comes around.
I believe we should stop their checks since they stopped our service.
I would like to know if other tax payers feel as I do so you can call me at (850) 973-6735. If I'm not home you can leave a message on my answering machine.
Sincerely and steaming mad,
~ Donald Johnson.