City officials pleased with Wall Street Blitz

City commissioners received an update Tuesday on an effort last month to beautify a portion of town through a property improvement blitz.

Craig Campbell, volunteer leader for the Good Neighbor Action Team, spoke about a GNAT blitz that took place May 30-31 along the East Wall Street corridor. The aim of the project was to improve curb appeal of several properties and help property owners bring their properties up to code.

Campbell showed commissioners several before-and-after photos of properties that were improved during the blitz. He also thanked commissioners and city officials for their support of the project since planning for the blitz began in early 2015. About 200 community volunteers were committed to the improvement projects. Campbell also thanked volunteers -- which included numerous church members who turned out on Sunday to work -- for their efforts.

"I'm proud of what they were able to do," Campbell said. "The property owners were great and helped out. There was much improvement."

Campbell said several houses were scraped and painted, several appliances were hauled out of yards and there was much removal of debris such as brush and trees, and defoliating. Other minor repairs were completed on some houses throughout the weekend.

"There was a lot of vegetation and dead tree removal during the blitz," he said.

Campbell said volunteers addressed work on about 20 properties. Eight houses were completely painted, nine houses received trim work and 11 houses were power washed. Out of the 36 original projects the GNAT had planned to address on the Wall Street corridor, 12 property owners "did the work themselves."

"I think that may be the big story here," he said. "Many had already taken care of their properties."

The city opened up its tree and brush dump site so debris could be taken there and also helped with projects by providing labor and some equipment such as dump trucks for trash cleanup. Bourbon County extended hours at its landfill to accommodate the project and also waived dump fees for construction and demolition materials generated from the project.

Campbell said there is one property left on the group's list and the landlord will complete that work soon. He said the GNAT committee is trying to keep up its momentum and they have "a little more work to finish on Wall Street."

Campbell also spoke on the much-discussed issue of codes enforcement in the city. He said the GNAT supports the city codes department and the work the department does to clean up the city.

"The GNAT supports a fair and equitable enforcement on codes for the city," he said.

Commissioners thanked Campbell, the GNAT and volunteers for their work on the projects.

"I appreciate the undertaking," Mayor Cindy Bartelsmeyer said. "I've heard good comments from people."

Volunteers assembled for the projects to help citizens who cannot afford the work or are not able to complete the work themselves. The projects are also part of an effort to beautify properties along one of the main entrances into Fort Scott. It was a start for the GNAT with properties along other entrances to the city possibly being addressed in the future.