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LANETT — The Lanett Restoration Committee had its first meeting of the new year Wednesday morning and set some ambitious goals for 2025.

The volunteer organization had two community wide cleanup days this past year and now plans to have monthly litter cleanups each month. They will be taking place on the first Saturday of each month. Anyone who wants to participate is free to do so.

The Restoration Committee is guided by the motto “We Love Our Lanett” with the overall goal of making the city amore attractive place for residents and visitors.

The first cleanup day of the year is set for Saturday, March 1st. Everyone who wants to take part is invited to be at city hall at 9 a.m. to receive instructions on where litter needs to be picked up that day.

Meeting with members of the committee in the council chamber at city hall were Mayor Jamie Heard, Code Enforcement Officer Johnny Wood, Cemetery and Grounds Department Head Bo Lauderdale and Foreman Shannon Spradlin, and Recreation Director Trent McCants.

Committee member Steve Wheeler was the moderator of the morning program. He began by asking Lauderdale is some sections of town had worse littering problems than others. Lauderdale said that the mill village area and Kroger block needed litter pickups all the time. He said that it wasn’t entirely the fault of those who live there. Some of the litter gets thrown out of cars that pass through the area on Highway 29.

The problem is worsened by dogs that are running loose tearing up the liter during the night.

Lauderdale said it’s an exasperating problem to deal with. “It seems like as soon as you get it all picked up it’s just as bad the next day,” he said.

Council Member Angelia Thomas, who represents the Kroger Black and mill village areas on the council, talks about the need to something about this at almost every council meeting.

Some members of the committee said there may be a code enforcement issue involved. Some houses in the mill village, for example, have inside furniture like couches on the front porch. The city code restricts inside furniture to being inside the house – it’s not supposed to be on the porch or out in the yard.

Wheeler said this could be a matter of perception. “What’s ugly to one person may be an Adirondack chair to the person who has it,” he said. “They may have a bad back and that chair they sit in could be very comfortable to them.”

Committee Member Patsy Lewis said that things look great on the outer parts of town but there is a problem with the inner city. “A lot of this is coming from outside of town,” she said. “But we do need to get the couches off the front porch.”

Mayor Heard said he has sent letters to landlords asking them to be helpful in this.

Wheeler said it all comes down to basic common sense. “We need to focus on things we can control,” he said. “We had two community-wide pickups last year. Do we need more this year?”

There was a quick consensus that would be a good idea.

The problem is that littering is a difficult problem to solve. People can be fined up to $500 for doing it, but someone has to be seen doing it and there needs to be some evidence they did it.

Lauderdale said the city could provide bags for pickups but that his department needed to know where they were piled up so they could go get them and take them to the landfill.

Lewis suggested getting local churches involved. “We could let them know that a litter pickup would be going on near the church and if their members would help us,” she said.

Wheeler said that would be a good idea, that more participation was needed for this to be a continuing city-wide effort.

“We want people to know this wouldn’t take up all of their Saturday,” he said. “It would take only an hour or two for a big group to take care of what needed to be done that day.”

Johnny Wood was asked if there were any issues involved with the city codes. “I don’t know of anything in the current codes.” he said, “but they are mostly for safety and not on cosmetic matters like picking up litter. We do need to let people know on what’s not allowed. Indoor furniture is not supposed to be in the yard or on the porch.”

Lauderdale was asked if there are problems with people leaving piles of unwanted items on the street when they move. He said the problem still exists but is not as bad as it once was.

Wheeler said he’d like for Lanett to have an e-waste day, where people could bring unwanted electronic items like old TVs, computers and printers for disposal.

Wheeler added that the committee appreciates donations from the public. This helps with ongoing litter pickups.

Wood suggested contacting the Charter Foundation for this.

Such items as litter bags, gloves and yellow vests come in handy on pickup days.

“I don’t think we’ll need a lot of money,” he said, “but whatever we receive will help.”

Wheeler said some historic buildings on the Lanett Mill site could use some restoring. There’s a small structure commonly called the guard shack near Sandy’s Service Center and a larger pavilion-like building that once served as a shelter for people who were waiting for a train to take them home from their job at the mill.

From the time Lanett Mill went into operation in the 1890s until Highway 29 was four-laned in the late 1940s, the CV Railway ran in front of the mill and dye works. The tracks were moved behind the mill when the highway was widened.

People driving up Highway 29 during the Christmas season may have noticed how the old train station was decorated for the holidays.

“I think we are in agreement for our litter pickup days to be on the first Saturday of the month,” Wheeler said. “We will appreciate any volunteer help we can get.”

The athletes from local high schools and Point University have helped with past pickup days.

Curtis Lewis said that there’s a bad illegal dumping problem that’s been going on in Lanett for some time. “Can we put up cameras to catch people?” he suggested. “There are some places in the city where people will leave old mattresses and unwanted furniture. Once we clean it up, somebody else will go right back to that spot and leave another mess. We need to somehow put a stop to this. What a few people are doing is a refection on the entire city.”

Mayor Heard said there’s an opportunity this year for Lanett residents to get some help with needed home repairs. An organization known as Groundswell will be doing home improvement repairs in Lanett this year, and Habitat for Humanity will be replacing some roofs.

People with household incomes of less than $72,000 are eligible. The house needs to be in the name of the person who lives there.

Any Lanett resident who is eligible can contact Mayor Heard for more information.

Wheeler thanked Mayor Heard and the city council for backing the Chattahoochee Humane Society in their request for a new contract to cover rising costs at the local animal shelter. “We want our streets to be both clean and safe,” he said.