Deputy Fire Marshal Mary Walton exemplifies the title of public servant and is always looking for ways to help citizens. As an advocate, she always goes the extra mile to get citizens the assistance they need.

Nowhere was that more evident than during the Dallas County unincorporated cleanup event on August 8, 2021. The event was designed to allow unincorporated residents a venue to deposit rubbish items, providing a central collection point at no cost. Walton took the initiative to ensure that residents in the target area received the notice, even going door to door. She also took the opportunity to contact several residents that had been engaged with corrective action plans to ensure they took advantage of the cleanup event. 

Walton had been working with a resident who was in a non-compliance situation in one of the local communities. Realizing that this resident was elderly, and the non-compliance was not due to neglect but due to ability, Walton took it upon herself to work with the resident to get assistance in cleaning up and coming into compliance. When she learned that the labor assistance offered to the resident had failed to show up, Walton stepped into action.

On her own time, she worked with the residents and neighbors to remove the rubbish items at the resident’s location in preparation for disposal at the cleanup event. Her actions, as always, became contagious, and the community came together to assist each other—one resident even provided a dump truck to transport items to the cleanup event. Together, Walton’s group removed three dump truck loads of rubbish items from the community and gained compliance for the original resident. 

Walton’s actions during and leading up to this event clearly show a pattern of stewardship and connection to our Dallas County community, and the willingness to always go above and beyond what’s required.