CITY SEEKS TO HASTEN REMOVAL OF NUISANCES

If the Cape Girardeau City Council passes every measure on its agenda tonight, the city will look nicer, Councilman Tom Neumeyer says.

The ordinances call for:

-- Shortening the length of time the city must wait between receiving a complaint about high weeds and taking action to cut them down.

-- Making it easier for the city to charge property owners for its expenses in getting rid of a nuisance.

-- Accepting federal grant money for fixing up homes between Jefferson Avenue and Shawnee Parkway.

The Missouri Department of Economic Development has approved of a $446,500 Community Development Block Grant that would pay for rehabbing 31 homes, removing lead paint from homes and building two new homes in the area between Jefferson Avenue and Shawnee Parkway. The city would make up its matching part of the grant by spending $92,594 on two-fifths of a mile in water lines, 980 feet of curb and gutter, and 70 feet of sidewalk.

Neumeyer said the grant will help improve the neighborhood along the bridge route, which lost more than 100 homes to road construction.

The other proposed ordinances would make it easier to enforce existing nuisance ordinances. One would speed up the time the city takes to enforce its weed abatement ordinance.

The current ordinance kicks in after a city inspector finds that the weeds on a piece of property exceed an average of 10 inches "within 200 feet of any building or 100 feet of any improved street" and posts a warning.

The warning means the owner must appear for a court hearing no less than seven days from the issuance of the notice. If the owner is found in violation, the court declares the property to be a public nuisance and gives the owner five days to clean up the property. If it's not clear by then, the city will mow it and bill the property owner for the costs. If the property owner doesn't pay, the costs and interest are put on the owner's property tax bill.

One proposed ordinance would shorten the two time periods. The hearing would be no sooner than five days after the notice, and the owner would have two days to clean up the property after the hearing. That would shorten the process by five days.

Chuck Stucker, the nuisance abatement officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said the whole process currently can take up to 17 days, allowing the weeds to get even taller. He and Neumeyer helped write the revised ordinance.

Neumeyer has also called for the city to hire a summer intern to help Stucker and the two other nuisance abatement officers so they can spend more time in the field and less time in the office. Neumeyer said the bill doesn't address that issue, but he wants that position to be in the city's budget for the next fiscal year.

The other proposed change would allow the city to declare the costs of cleanup a debt. Currently, the costs are put on the tax bill and are considered a lien. Legally, a lien is attached to the property and the city cannot force the owner to pay, but it can seize the property for nonpayment.