Blytheville Courier News
The Blytheville Code Enforcement and Animal Control committee met Thursday to discuss ordinance change recommendations needed in order to improve the bidding process used by the city when selling city property.
Councilman John Musgraves, chairman of the committee, handed out and read an ordinance draft before making suggestions that he would like to see implemented. He recommended removing the existing paragraph that mentions public hearings because he said David Schoen, legal counsel for the Arkansas Municipal League, told him "that it was not necessary to have public hearings, local advertising is sufficient." He also added that their monthly committee meeting, discussing these sales, could also be considered a public hearing.
Councilman Kevin Snow also recommended that item "e" of the draft, which required that purchasers be a citizen of the city of Blytheville be changed to reflect "special consideration will be given for residents of the local area". It was agreed by the committee that local purchasers were preferred to someone from far off like California, due to the fact that the majority of troubled properties that the city currently has code issues with have owners from states far away.
Musgraves and Snow both added that the current wording would tie the city's hands if ever there was a property for sale and no local buyers appeared, yet persons from out of the area did want to buy. The committee approved showing the recommended changes to City Attorney Mike Bearden for his counsel before taking any draft to the full council.
Much discussion was given by the committee to the fact that there are numerous troubled properties owned by common owners, who appear to have no intention or ability to bring their properties up to code. Specific cases of owners, buying property from the state, then transferring multiple properties to other family members repetitively, seemingly in order to circumvent Blytheville code enforcement efforts, led the committee to discuss ways to combat the problem.
Councilman Snow said, "We need to find a way to attach citations to the property as a lien like a tax lien."
He also suggested that committee members should talk to every legislator they saw and to "lobby for changes that can be put into play tied to [property] sales from the state just like we are doing, with properties reverting back to the communities they are in. We need some language to hold people responsible, to hold people accountable. The lien process simply takes so long."
Councilman L.C. Hartsfield said that contact could be made with the state Land Commissioner to "see what the state's process actually is. Maybe there doesn't need to be a change made, maybe it is just not being followed."
In other business before the committee, Animal Control officer Terry Gaines told the committee that the spay/neuter program that has been in place for about a year is doing very well. She answered numerous questions related to the program, including cost, as well as how many calls that were made in the previous month.
Gaines told the committee, "I expected a big turnaround after the ordinance for breeding license [was set] at $250, but I was hoping for every year, not a one-time fee."
Councilman Hartsfield asked Gaines how many breeder licenses the city has issued. She replied, "Not many."
It was mentioned, but not discussed by members, that perhaps the license fee should be yearly like privilege licenses.
Councilman Musgraves asked if it was Public Works Department or Animal Control's responsibility when dead animals appear in the street. Gaines said it was really Public Works, but to call her and she'd take care of it. She also added that the Animal Control number is not listed in some phone books.
Next before the committee was discussion related to the Code Enforcement Department interviewing status. Chief Ricky Jefferson, code enforcement supervisor, said that he is looking to hire one full time employee and one part-time employee. He said that the pool of applicants have been cut down to three and that the hiring decision should be made within the next week or two. They sent all three for psychological evaluation and are awaiting the results of each before moving to the next stage of hiring.
Lastly, Chief Jefferson gave his quantitative monthly enforcement report before telling the committee that FFA students from the high school volunteered, on May 2nd, to paint fire hydrants in the city and did so on Main Street from 5th Street to Lake Street. They also painted some on 2nd, Walnut and Chickasawba Streets. He added that these students also want to come back and paint some more during the summer months.
Future projects include finishing the lighting project on South Division from Lee Circle to the Interstate, however Jefferson said it was going slowly because Entergy doesn't have as many workers locally that can help them as in the past. He also said that in response to high violence, future lighting projects will include Cherry Street from Franklin to Ruddle. Jefferson said, "We want to light up that target area in hopes that it will slow down crime there."
thenry@blythevillecourier.com