The newest formation of the Fayette city council has put street improvements at the forefront. Four new members were sworn onto the six-person Fayette Board of Aldermen last Tuesday in the first meeting since the April 8 election.

Late in their first meeting as a new board, members introduced themselves and outlined their goals, with street improvements taking center stage.

“If we don’t start on the street project tomorrow, it’s too late. We have money to do it,” said Pat Roll, Northwest Ward Alderman. Mr. Roll is one of three members returning to the board. He previously served by appointment on the council from August 2020 until April 2021, filling the seat vacated by longtime Alderman Larry Dimond, who resigned due to health issues.

Perhaps returning with the most experience in city affairs is J. B. Waggoner, who served three terms on the council and assumed the role of Mayor upon the resignation of then-Mayor Mike Hirsch in the early 2000s. He said repairing roads is one part of community-wide improvements the city must make in order to improve as a whole. “We’re not dying as a community, but we’re not necessarily thriving at the level where we need to and want to be,” he said. “An investment in economic development, I think, would be very important.”

The third returner was absent at his first meeting back in the council chambers. Former two-term Alderman Grafton Cook won a two-way race to fill out the remaining year of a vacant seat on the Southwest Ward. He was sworn in the Wednesday before the meeting as he was set to be out of town on Tuesday. In his answer to a pre-election questionnaire from the Advertiser, Mr. Cook said he wanted to implement a five-year plan to improve streets city-wide.

The fourth new Alderman is new to the council but not to Fayette. A resident here since 1985, David Frees said he couldn’t recall the last time Reynolds Street, in his neighborhood, was repaved.

“I would love to us make some progress and start building some trust in the people of this city by actually making some progress and getting some repairs done,” he said. “We can’t do it all in one year, but I would really like to see some progress.”

All four members and the remaining two councilwomen, Michelle Ishmael (Northwest Ward) and Ronda Gerlt (East Ward), agreed that the city’s audits must be caught up and completed in haste. Having current audits and sound financial records is a prerequisite to grant eligibility.

“We have to do something with the streets because they are really bad,” Gerlt said.

Before the swearing-in of new members, the former board completed some last business. One item approved a business license for FlyBy, a new restaurant currently under construction along Walnut Street between the Howard County Public Library and the car wash.

Concerns were raised regarding traffic flow for the new restaurant, which will serve burgers and American fair.

The Fayette Board of Aldermen meets regularly at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in City Hall. The next meeting will be held on May 13. Meetings are open, agendas are published in advance, and the public is invited.