The streets of our city are in urgent need of repair, from pothole filling to total surface replacement; the work is endless. The lack of workforce in our street department makes it nearly impossible for street crews to keep up. With the need for more skilled tradespeople within the industry, our street department needed help.

The Pretzel City Skills Enhancement Program was created to do just that. Youth in our community are being provided hands-on skill training, including street repair (pothole filling and crack-sealing), to help our street crews keep up. In return, these youth will be offered the opportunity to apply for jobs in the City of Freeport’s Street and water departments. This program will play a crucial role in helping our street crew and paving the pathways for potentially rewarding careers for our youth. But sadly, this program is facing discontinuance by our City Manager.

The program benefits our youth and guarantees the maintenance of our roads, ensuring that our local citizens can travel smoothly without worrying about vehicle wear and tear or safety. The Pretzel City, Skills Enhancement program, has laid over 285 tons of hot-mixing materials on our city streets in two months.

This program's dual purpose is invaluable and its discontinuation would be a significant loss to our community. A survey by AAA indicates that potholes cost American drivers $3 billion annually (AAA, 2024). Consequently, our citizens will suffer a two-fold setback without this program: they are shouldering needless costs due to poor road conditions, and our youth will miss out on a significant opportunity to advance themselves.

So, we would like to ask for your active participation in urging our City Manager to realize the void left by discontinuing the Pretzel City Skills Enhancement Program and take immediate action to renew it on July 31, 2024.

Please, let’s continue to help our street crews keep up with road maintenance while providing our youth with the opportunities they need to learn a skilled trade with the potential for city employment and promise our citizens good roads to drive on.

Let's renew the Pretzel City Skills Enhancement Program without delay. I urge you to join me in signing this petition and make our city a better place to live and thrive.