| Local resident Jim Robertson along with East Carbon employees and other community members are working hard throughout the winter months to ensure the continued beautification of the city’s downtown area. |
With assistance from the Rotary Club and the city’s vista workers, East Carbon officials and employees continue to work on changing the municipality’s image and renovating the downtown area.
Discussion at East Carbon’s council meeting on Nov. 27 centered around current projects that club members and officials claim will change the appearance of the city’s center and parks.
Longtime Rotary member and former Carbon Sheriff Jim Robertson approached the council seeking official action approving the mounting of a bench to be purchased by the local club.
“This will be the second bench we have added to the community and they are not anything cheap. This bench will be around as long as anyone in this room,” said Robertson.
Robertson was flexible about where the bench would be placed.
The council decided that the bench would be placed along the new walkways that are planned for installation near city hall.
Vista worker Lisa Miller then approached the council asking that the parks department develop a board to oversee East Carbon’s attempt to become a Tree City USA.
Bestowed by the Arbor Day Foundation, the designation would increase the organization’s grant to East Carbon from $200 to $400 annually in addition to the trees purchased for the city.
“We have plans in place to plant seven trees in the next couple of weeks, most in the parks and the rest around the city center,” said Miller.
The Tree City USA program, sponsored by the Arbor Day Foundation in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters, provides direction, technical assistance, public attention and recognition for urban and rural community programs in thousands of towns and cities.
Website www.arborday.org reports that more than 93 million Americans live in towns that have earned the honor of being a Tree City USA.
“He who plants a tree plants hope,” said Lucy Larcom of the foundation.
According to maintenance employee Darwin Christensen, East Carbon has been changing the types of trees planted within the city for the last two years.
“We are really trying to change the color of the city by using different trees,” said Christensen. “We are getting away from the Chinese elms and planting trees that have a lot of red or are of a flowering variety.”
Christensen recently received a $6,000 grant on behalf of East Carbon from Western Garden Center in Salt Lake City.
The grant came in the form of a pavilion, a pond and a water fountain.
“Right now, the fountain looks a little rough but with some work I think we can get it looking just like new,” said Christensen.
East Carbon is also in the middle of developing a new lighting system for the downtown area as well as defining the exact path of the city’s proposed walking and off-highway vehicle trails, according to the officials.
“The lighting system and all the new trees are a great start for what we are planning for this community,” said Christensen. “We are tired of the old way our city looks and we are doing everything we can as a maintenance department and a community to make our home town look better.”