After years of hard work, it is finally official.

Ed Jordan, Keep Carter County Beautiful Board chairman, recently announced that the organization has been recognized as an official member of Keep America Beautiful.

“We were in the process of being vetted,” Jordan explained. “During KAB/TDOT training in Chattanooga this month, we learned that the organization has already recognized us as an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful.”

The official designation was made possible by the years of work already being accomplished by the group, Jordan explained. While the group worked toward affiliation with KAB, volunteers set up various cleanup events, meetings and other activities — which helped expedite the process of being designated an affiliate.

“Even though we were being vetted, we were told that the work we’ve already accomplished was enough for us to be officially recognized,” Jordan said. “It is great to have this happen, and now our goal is to grow and keep things going to help better Carter County and Elizabethton for the public.”

Members of Keep Carter County Beautiful logged over 250 man hours for various cleanup events across the county. Across the board, Jordan stated there were over 7,000-man hours worth of cleanup activities across the county from the various civic groups in Elizabethton and Carter County.

According to Jordan, a $40,000 savings to the county was produced from the work of the different groups through the region.

During the recent board meeting, members discussed the ideas of planting foliage near the Tweetsie Trail. One idea being discussed is planting in the open field area near the entrance of Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park.

Another point of discussion was the laws and bylaws for the new board. Jordan commended member Ed Basconi on his work to set up preliminary bylaws. Members are seeking the opinion of county attorney Josh Hardin for the validity of the documents.

Jordan added the organization will work this weekend to do inventory on Saturday, Sept. 29, at Doe River Gorge for a location index. Moving forward, the organization has several ideas coming through the pipeline with October anticipated to be busy.

The Keep Carter County Beautiful Board will meet Wednesday, Oct. 17, at 5 p.m. inside the Carter County Courthouse. Volunteers will then host a cleanup of Milligan Highway on Saturday, Oct. 20, at 9 a.m. Members of the public wanting to participate can join by stopping by the Happy Valley Elementary parking lot.

To learn more about the organization, visit the Carter County Proud Facebook page. Along with Keep Carter County Beautiful, Carter County Proud is still active and will in the future be used as the group’s nonprofit organization.