Published: April 09, 2008 02:21 pm            

Council OKs move to revise city’s nuisance ordinances

Aldermen also approve city’s participation in housing grant program

By PAUL LORENZ

paul.lorenz@mcleansborotimesleader.com

McLEANSBORO — The City Council moved Tuesday to better deal with unsightly properties and to help qualified homeowners with repairs.

The council authorized the city’s attorney, Scott Quinn, to work on revising the city’s nuisance ordinances to “add some teeth,” as Quinn put it.

Also, the city, which already participates in a grant program to help landlords make repairs on rental properties, on Tuesday approved participation in a similar program aimed at helping homeowners to make repairs.

The council agreed with Mayor Dick Deitz that it was time to do something about the city's eyesores — "junky, messy places."

City Clerk Rita Crain said past efforts to make owners clean up their property have been largely unsuccessful because "they know you can't do anything to them." Council members noted one instance when a "notice to abate" sign was posted in the yard of one nuisance property; the sign wound up in an alderman's yard.

"We need to add some teeth to the ordinances," Quinn said, "so police can issue citations and the city attorney can go into court once a month and prosecute those."

He suggested imposing fines for violations of the city's nuisance ordinances.

"We are ready to pursue this," Deitz said.

Meanwhile, a U.S. Housing and Urban Development program which provides up to 75 percent of the cost of repairs to rental properties continues to find applicants here, Roy Adams of the civil engineering firm Lipe & Associates, Benton, told the council Tuesday.

"We've talked with about eight to 10 landlords, and have five or six projects out for bid," Adams said.

He proposed the city's participation in a similar program which provides grants to homeowners for repairs to structural features such as roofs, windows and doors.

"This is the best program I participate in, because taxpayer money goes back to your neighbor to fix their home," Adams said.

Low-income families and the elderly would be likely recipients of such grants, he said.

Further details of this grant program will be announced later, Adams indicated.

        

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