Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Monday he wants people to report directly to him if they see a problem, instead of posting their grievances on Facebook.

This past weekend, someone criticized the mayor on Facebook about trash at Catfish Row. Therefore, at the Board of Mayor and Aldermen meeting Monday, Flaggs addressed the Facebook incident.

“It’s a lot easier if you just call me at 601-942-0492 if there is anything of concern about the city of Vicksburg on cleanliness or something unsafe, than it is to blast my name or the city of Vicksburg on Facebook,” he said.

Flaggs said he takes responsibility for the city and all its employees, therefore if anyone who when driving around the city of Vicksburg sees anything unsafe or where trash removal is needed, call him anytime.

“I answer my phone 24-hours a day,” he said.

Flaggs said negative Facebook posts about the city have a residual effect.

“The sad thing about social media, not just the people from Vicksburg read it, people from all over the country read it,” he said.

Ward 2 Alderman Alex Monsour also spoke on the incident at Catfish Row.

“We got it pretty quick,” Monsour said, in reference to the trash. “It was cleaned up in a timely fashion. I picked the trash up that was on the ground.”

Monsour said crews had cleaned the area up on Friday, “Like they do every day, and there wasn’t any trash on the ground.”

“I just want people to understand we are not mindreaders, but we try, and we have a schedule where we pick up trash every single day in the parks. It’s unfortunate that there are people out there that don’t have the common decency to throw it in the cans that are provided for them and throw it all over the ground. It’s ridiculous,” Monsour said.

To address the situation, Monsour said he would support Vicksburg Police Chief Penny Jones, if littering fines were handed out, in “full force.”

“We are fixing to get some people that are throwing trash on the ground,” he said.