Gilbert Town Council discussed community events and town beautification at its Nov. 14 meeting.

Also discussed were improving sidewalks, crime statistics and trying to establish a holiday event.

During the community input portion of the meeting, a guest brought up the disrepair of the sidewalks the town does have and the lack of them in some areas. According to council, the town has applied for a grant to help increase the number of sidewalks and to help renovate the existing ones.

The grant money would be federal money coming from the Municipal Association of South Carolina.

As a way to fix the current sidewalks quicker, the council talked about renting a concrete sander to help get some of the problem sidewalks back to regulation. The sander would cost roughly $250 for the town to rent.

Council Member Nancy Harmon said 15-17 people came to a recent meeting about efforts to beautify the town. Right now the beautification focus is on the area at the intersection of Main Street and Broad Street. The town also continues with its efforts to renovate the current Town Hall into a future home for the police department the town hopes to establish and a building across the street, which is slated to become the new Town Hall.

Robert McLeod, founder of Heritage Landscape Services, offered to have a landscape designer at his company create some conceptual drawings for the beautification of the area.

Council members said the Halloween trunk or treat event was a success, with around 500-600 kids participating and five different churches playing host.

Prompted by a public comment, council discussed establishing a “holiday fest” in Magnolia Square, brainstorming ideas, including serving hot dogs, hot chocolate and other refreshments and potentially setting up a large screen to show a movie.

The town’s resident deputy with the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department gave a report on recent activity in the town, noting that there has been a surge in catalytic converters being stolen.