JACKSON CONSIDERS NUISANCE FINES

JACKSON -- The Jackson Board of Aldermen is considering instituting new fines and streamlining the handling of nuisances.

Proposed amendments to the city's Code of Ordinances primarily would affect how the city deals with the three most common nuisances -- abandoned vehicles, weeds and dilapidated buildings.

City Administrator Steve Wilson said the city is seeking to update its methods of handling nuisances because of the increasing number of complaints streaming into the Department of Public Works.

"The staff felt we need to shorten the amount of time for people to comply as well as ascending penalties for people in non-compliance," Wilson said.

Most of the nuisance complaints are initiated by other citizens -- not his staff, he said.

"People expect us to get things done."

Under the city's current code, people might have 30 or 45 days to correct a nuisance. Depending on the nuisance, that time would be shortened considerably under the amendments being considered.

An owner who fails to remove a nuisance within seven days of being notified to do so can be charged in municipal court with failure to abate a nuisance.

Wilson said some residents have simply allowed the city to cut their grass and bill them rather than do the work themselves.

Under the proposal, after the city has abated a nuisance it can impose a civil penalty of 50 percent -- or a minimum of $100 -- of the cost of the abatement for each subsequent nuisance abated.

The Board of Aldermen was prepared to vote on the amendments at Monday night's meeting until Alderman David Hitt questioned whether the city should be imposing a new 7-inch limit on grass or weed height or allowing residents 24 hours to clear their public sidewalks of snow and ice.

The current limit on grass and weed length is 12 inches.

Wilson said the usual method of instituting new nuisance codes is to start with the most restrictive numbers and then modify them, tailoring them to the city.

The board voted to table the issue and will discuss the regulations at more length at Monday's study session.

The increase in the number of nuisance complaints has caused the city to seriously consider adding a full-time nuisance officer to the 1999 budget, Wilson said.