New Mayor, New Image

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Story Published: Nov 15, 2009 at 7:46 PM PDT

By Sade Malloy

MABTON -- A new mayor for the city of Mabton, but is it a new beginning? Over the last few years the only thing to make the news has been the constant bickering at city council meetings, an unfair labor practice lawsuit and budget issues. Action News sat down with the new mayor find out how he plans to change the city's bad image.

Perception is everything and when it comes to Mabton, the perception is not good. City Councilman, Mario Martinez will tell you that himself.

"Unfair labor practice, police, budget issues, a good example of not the best practices of government and labor negotiations but we're going to turn the corner."

Mabton's got a new mayor, Angel Reyna and he's determined to get the city back on track, starting with city hall. Reyna says a lot of the problems come from a lack of communication that stem from city council meetings.

"It always comes down to communication and who's handling the information and preparing and giving it to us in a timely matter and sometimes that wasn't occurring," says Angel Reyna, new Mabton Mayor.

Communication problems are just the beginning of his new list of to do's. Reyna wants to clean up the city and possibly get a new city clerk, a new attorney and 2 more police officers. The department's gone through a lot changes and right now only has 1 full time officer and 2 reserves.

"I'd like to see everybody work together and I think the town would be a good town," says Mabton homeowner Joe Holestine.

Getting along and getting city council to focus on the important things like the budget is all some locals think Mabton needs to go from a bad image to a good one.

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