JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Johnson City residents gathered for a community-led town hall Thursday that covered an array of topics, from the proposed downtown alcohol ordinance to Bitcoin to the Sean Williams case.

The majority of the meeting was calling for one thing from the Johnson City government: better communication.

Organizer Abigail Honeycutt said she isn’t the only one in town who has been pushing city officials.

“What’s really concerned me is it’s not just me,” she said. It’s hundreds of people that are emailing. It’s local business owners. It’s people whose voices absolutely should be heard that are not being engaged with.”

Former Johnson City mayor Tom McKee was a panelist at the meeting. He said he understands the concerns residents have, but urged residents to move forward.

“They want to rehash it, the people here want to rehash it. There’s nothing to be gained by that,” McKee said. “If they don’t like what the city commissioners done, they come up for a vote every two years. And that’s how you do it.”

The meeting lasted over two hours.

Public comments were made in front of a five-person panel made up of business owners and former government officials.

One panelist was Brad Batt, who said transparency is also a problem at higher levels of government.

“I think the things you’re seeing at a local level is the same at the state and higher level, which is that elected officials are far out of touch and out of reach from the common citizen,” Batt said.

No city commissioners attended the town hall despite an invitation.

“That’s a statement from them,” organizer Maria Lovelady said. “We need to remind them that they work for us and we elect them. It’s time to take control of our own town and our own politics and the people that we put in place to lead us.”

Lovelady added that she’s proud of the turnout and work put into the town hall.

“I think it went really well,” she said. “As one of the organizers, we were highly satisfied with the amount of people that came in. We counted over 60 people that came to our first meeting. We think it went great.”

Honeycutt and Lovelady hope to host more town halls in the future to encourage open and honest conversation amongst the Johnson City community.

Honeycutt added what she envisions for Johnson City.

“My vision is that it continues to grow into an even more vibrant and beautiful and entrepreneurial driven area,” she said. “There’s so much magic in this little town.”

News Channel 11 reached out to the City of Johnson City government for comment, but has not received a response.