ShawneeDispatch.com

With the help of local residents, Shawnee could soon become a cleaner place to live.

The month of May likely will become known as the month for spring cleaning throughout the city's public places, highways and byways, thanks to a new city clean up campaign. The Shawnee City Council next week will consider the program, and the mayor will read a proclamation designating May as Clean-Up Month in Shawnee.

Information on a clean-up campaign was preliminarily presented to Council members on the Finance & Administration Committee April 3. The idea was suggested by Ward I Council members Dan Pflumm and Cheryl Scott, as the city has received several calls from residents and business owners concerned about litter in the community.

Two cleaning events are already run by the city. The Shawnee Downtown Partnership hosts "Beauty and the Best" each spring to clean up downtown with the help of volunteers, scheduled for May 5 this year. There's also the "Tidy Town" program, a large-item pick-up that encourages residents to clean out their homes. This will be held May 5 for homes east of Pflumm and May 12 for homes west of Pflumm this year.

The city will call for volunteers, businesses and service groups to participate and will ask businesses to designate a day in May to have employees clean up the grounds surrounding their businesses. Homes associations also will be encouraged to pick up their neighborhoods and surrounding parks and trails.

The residents won't be alone in their efforts; the city will do its part through the parks and recreation and public works departments. Both would enhance their clean-up efforts for the month.

The parks department will designate public areas that would be safe and helpful for volunteers to sign up to clean. Volunteer groups also can request supplies and some city equipment to use in the clean-up. The parks department would pick up trash sacks from these efforts.

The city hopes to recognize any volunteer groups who participate at a June Council meeting.

At a resident's suggestion, the city is going to get elementary students involved by having them come up with a slogan and name for the clean-up program. While there isn't enough time to have it done this year, Vicki Charlesworth, assistant city manager, said the city wants to set up a program with the schools next fall so the clean-up campaign can have an official name next year.