Time for spring cleaning

Marysville, it’s time for spring cleaning.

Making our community more attractive and welcoming is a long-standing priority for the City Council and me. That’s why we’re excited to invite you to participate in some Marysville spring clean-up events. Whether spring cleaning for you is a well-orchestrated annual ritual or an occasional happening, the city is here to help. Plan ahead now and mark your calendars for Saturday, April 28, for two very popular events – Clean Sweep and Shred-A-Thon. Clean Sweep will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Marysville Public Works, 80 Columbia Ave. Nearly 300 residents took advantage of last year’s event, cleaning out about 10,000 pounds of trash, 80 cubic yards of scrap metal, 60 tires, 27 refrigerators and many computer monitors and televisions for free disposal or recycling.

We’re bringing it back at the request of our customers.

City residents can bring one personal vehicle load per household for free disposal or recycling. To learn more about what items are accepted, visit www.marysvillewa.gov/cleansweep. That same day is Shred-A-Thon, a long popular annual event. From 9 a.m. to noon that day, you can bring up to six boxes of paperwork to City Hall, 1049 State Ave., for shredding. Donations are accepted to help defray costs. Both events would not be possible without help from community partners and volunteers. These events offer easy ways to help clean up your home and property. On the city side, over the past year we’ve increased emphasis on code enforcement to target neighborhood eyesores, including junk vehicles and excessive accumulation of trash. Other common code violations are vehicles parked illegally on public rights-of-way, cars parked on lawns and overgrown vegetation. Our code enforcement team, a unit of the police department, made very good progress in 2017. More than 560 vehicles were moved into compliance and more than 550 other cases were successfully closed. You can learn more about Marysville’s Code Enforcement program and how to file a complaint online at www.marysvillewa.gov/808/Code-Enforcement. You can also pick up a code complaint form at the Public Safety Building (1635 Grove St.), City Hall (1049 State Ave.) or Public Works. Complete the form and deliver it to the Public Safety Building during regular office hours.

All of these efforts taken together – by individuals and by the city – bring better aesthetic appeal for residents and visitors, and increased property value for home and business owners. P.S.: If you’d like to talk in person about these or any other city programs, please come to my next Coffee Klatch. It’s on Monday, March 19, at 10 a.m. at The Living Room Coffee House, 1626 Fourth St. Hope to see you there.

Jon Nehring is the mayor of Marys-ville. His column runs monthly.