City Council wants to clamp down on unsightly property

By Nate Smith

The City of Washington is getting tough on those who don’t keep their properties clean by issuing fines.

Although fines have been on city books for a while, they never were used. Mayor Larry Haag told the City Council on Monday that this will stop.

“We’re ready to flip that switch and go to the next level by going to fines and more,” Haag said.

The issue came up when Haag asked council members to look into resolving the issue of persistent violators of the city’s trash and debris ordinance.

“We’ve modified our ordinances last year and there’s still some persistent properties that continue (to not keep their properties clean),” Haag said. “How do we finally resolve this issue?”

Haag went on to say there are only a few repeat violators, about 12 to 15, that continually violate the ordinance and do just enough to not be in violation.

“They do clean up the property and they move (the junk) a block away,” Councilman Ralph Brummett said. “You take it to court and they get sued and they just move it back and forth.”

To be in violation, Building Commissioner Chris Wimmenauer has to find items like unlicensed vehicles or what could classify to most as junk in a yard. After a letter and 10 days to clean it up, the city street department will come in and clean up the property and put the fee on a tax bill.

The fines, $100 for the first time and $500 for subsequent times, would then be assessed during the clean up. Haag asked the council for their input and they said to issue the fines.

“It’s already been covered,” Councilman Art Biddinger said. Haag repeatedly asked the council if they knew when fines start being issued, there would be several angry citizens.

“The first thing I wanted this evening is an agreement if we want to go,” Haag said.

The council agreed, and voted 7-0 to issue the fines.

In other business

PARKING FINES

Police Chief Steve Riney asked the council to look into raising its fines for parking violations.

“Our parking tickets have been $6 for a number of years,” Riney said. “We will get the violator’s ticket back sometimes with a note saying ‘Thanks for the cheap parking.’”

Riney recommended raising the parking fines from $6 to $25, the fine for misusing a handicapped parking space to $50 and the large vehicle fine to $100.

Riney also asked the council to double the fines if not paid in a timely manner. The department wrote 133 parking violations in 2009, many during the high school basketball tournament at Washington High School.

City Attorney Jeff Norris was directed to look into rewriting the ordinance to reflect the increase in rates.

SEWER UPDATE

Haag gave the council an update on progress of the combined sewer overflow project. He said planning is 95 percent finished and the state Department of Environmental Management is finishing up its permit process.

“They have said that (the project) has been time and time again the greenest and most economical project in the state of Indiana,” Haag said. “This project resolves all our issues with the state.”

Over a few years, the city will build retention basins and a wetland for storm runoff and not let untreated waste flow into the White River. Haag also said that income surveys for stimulus dollars have also been completed and will soon be sent to the state.

During the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, the board entered into contracts with firms Bingham McHale and London Witte Group to begin the process of seeking grant dollars and future bonds for construction.

ANNUAL REPORTS

Riney, Fire Chief Dave Rhoads and Building Commissioner Chris Wimmenauer gave the council their 2009 annual reports.

Wimmenauer said in 2009, the city continued to build new homes. Although 10 homes were torn down, eight were built. A total of $2,887,436 in construction value was issued in permits.

At the fire department, 1,203 responses were issued in 2009, 56 of those were structure fires. One death was reported.

A total of 13,750 complaints were handled by city police in 2009, with 3,612 coming from 911. A total of 2,713 arrests were made in 2009 by city officers.

CREDIT CARD

AGREEMENT

The Public Works Board unanimously approved a contract with PayGov for credit card service with the city.

Utility Office Manager Anita Ash said while in ordinance, the does accept credit card payment, they did not have a provider. The service is free for local government, Ash said, and card holders would pay any fees associated with using the service.

Daviess County also uses the PayGov platform.

HANDICAPPED SPACE

The board granted a handicapped parking space in front of Dr. Darrell Deem’s office on 100 W. VanTrees St. One space will be created.

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