WM in the weeds on grass cutting

WM in the weeds on grass cutting

Council, Public Works looking at solutions

news@theeveningtimes.com

The September Public Works Committee meeting got into the tall weeds in West Memphis Last week.

After concern voiced by Alderman Marco McClendon in consecutive City Council meetings about the tall grass at old Mayfair Apartments, a concerned citizen broached the same subject a week later.

After the city condemned Mayfair and demolition completed, the city assumed responsibility to keep the grass height in check on the vacant lot.

Then came former Ward 1 City Councilman Brian Reece, appearing the next week at the Public Works meeting expressing concerns about overgrown lots in all precincts of the city.

He wondered if it the problem stemmed from inadequate codes, lax enforcement or failure to issue notice to lot owners.

Armed with “100 recent photos” Reece pressed the issue and asked the committee to actively seek remedies.

“I am concerned with the grass mowing and garbage pick-up,” said Reece. “I rode around here a couple of weeks ago, and in just Ward 1 and 3 and I quit counting at 43 lots that need to be mowed. Today I saw close to 100 lots that need to be mowed. What ever we are doing we need to do something different.” The panel held a round robin discussion speculating on the possibilities of spraying lots with weed killer, more aggressive en- forcement, notifying land owners, more significant fines and fees.

“I’ve got a picture of Johnson grass over your head right on Broadway,” said Reece. “We need to budget more money or we need to do a different process. We could burn down the lots with round-up and save money on the mowing and have funds to do another two or three lots.”

“We need to be stricter on enforcement and write some tickets,” said Reece.

“How many citations have we written this year?”

“A handful,” replied code enforcement officer Mike Antel, “and most of those to resident homeowners.”

Reece maintained that a lot of the problems were landlords with multiple houses that could afford the upkeep but saved money by waiting for the city to mow. “We need to be stricter on enforcement, write some tickets, and stop letting people having us take care of their business,” said Reece.

Councilman James Pulliaum pointed out problems with the past with chemical spray drifting, stated the city may spend more than $30,000 per year mowing, and insisted that code enforcement was reactive, requiring posting notice.

“We have to comply with what the law says,” said Pulliaum. “The grass has to get so high before we can even act on it.”

Chairwoman Ramona Taylor promised continued focus.

“We will keep this on the agenda moving forward and meet with the city attorney about our options,” concluded Taylor.

KTI.

By John Rech