By JOE PITTS
Mayor of Clarksville
Like nearly everything in 2020, Thanksgiving will be affected by the challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, my advice to everyone is, let’s take the necessary precautions to keep our celebrations safe and healthy, but let’s not forget to be grateful for all the blessings we have been given.
It’s been a challenging time for our community overall and for City government, but we have responded to the pandemic by working hard to keep everyone as safe as possible while sustaining quality services for our citizens. All departments continue to perform at a high level, and for that I am truly impressed and deeply grateful.
Let’s take a moment to count our municipal blessings:
We are blessed with a dedicated Police Department whose mission is to be ever present, ever vigilant and to protect and serve.
We have a dedicated Fire Rescue Department whose mission is to protect lives and property by preventing and minimizing the effects of fire, sudden illness, accidents and disasters.
CDE Lightband, Clarksville Gas & Water, Clarksville Street Department and Clarksville Transit System provide superior service, many times behind the scenes. They keep us moving, they keep us environmentally sound and they manage our complicated infrastructure assets.
Clarksville Parks & Recreation keeps our facilities in good shape while delivering sophisticated programming like our award-winning Clarksville Downtown Market.
Each of our departments -- from Building & Codes to Finance & Revenue to Human Resources and throughout our massive operation -- and each City employee, works hard to get the job done. I want to personally thank our City employee family for their excellent service and dedication to our citizens.
I also thank you, the citizens of Clarksville, for the prayers, the support, the good advice, the constructive criticism, and our friendship. I extend a special prayer of thanks for our troops at Fort Campbell, our veterans and their family members. I thank God for all of you and I wish for you and yours the most joyous of Thanksgivings.