Edinburgh 2040 Forum listens to residents and shares its plans

EDINBURGH, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The City of Edinburgh held a community forum to hear from residents about what they want to see improved.

This series of forums, called Edinburgh 2040, shares city officials’ projections for Edinburgh’s future.

“I feel very confident with our municipal management and our municipal council and obviously our mayor,” said a resident speaking at the forum.

Some residents have expressed confidence in the city government in contrast to previous trust issues with city officials.

“A challenge is just to make sure we follow the decisions that we have to make and make sure there’s orderly growth,” Mayor Ramiro Garza said.

Garza spoke about the new code of ethics that was adopted last week and applies to elected officials and city staff.

“As elected officials, we must abide by federal laws and our municipal charter. This order is going to integrate all of that into one place,” Garza said. “There are also training requirements as elected officials and ultimately it’s to earn the trust of our residents.”

City officials surveyed Edinburgh and presented data on what is going well and what needs improvement.

A constant concern among the residents of the forum is the improvement of circulation and streets.

“To see how we connect our whole community and how we use our streets. Traffic is kind of inevitable, but it doesn’t have to be,” said another resident speaking at the forum.

City manager Brian Kelsey said they were taking steps to improve Edinburgh’s permitting process.

“We have online permissions in place,” Kelsey said. “It’s much easier for people to check the status of their permits on their phone on the go rather than having to go to the town hall.”

The City of Edinburgh is planning another forum on March 29 at Boys & Girls Edinburgh at 6 p.m.

City officials are asking residents to answer survey questions to help them make more improvements. The survey closes March 31, and the city plans to report the results in May.

You can take this survey here: www.edinburg2040.com/