UNTIDY LAWNS: CITY HOPES TO SPEED UP MOWING PROCESS

Residents of the 700 block of North Spanish Street are tired of a few property owners who won't take care of their grounds.

Randy Kilburn lives next door to an abandoned house at 721 N. Spanish. His neatly trimmed yard contrasts with the shoulder-high weeds next door that harbor all sorts of animals.

"I've got a 4-year-old girl who likes to play with her dogs in the back, and sometimes she has to run from the snakes," Kilburn said.

Chuck Stucker, nuisance-abatement officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department, said he fielded a complaint about that house Monday. He said he plans to inspect it today. That means it could take as long as 17 days before a city can legally mow the property.

One block away at 708 N. Main, the grounds around the burned-out shell of a house were overgrown with weeds Tuesday. But city workers could trim them as soon as today, Stucker said.

That's because the city first set the legal machinery in motion to trim those weeds three years ago, but has to restart them every year, Stucker said.

City Councilman Tom Neumeyer said the city code needs to be streamlined so the city can cut the weeds more quickly. He is working with Stucker and Police Chief Rick Hetzel to rewrite the city ordinance so the process works more quickly.

A proposed ordinance could come before the City Council as soon as its next meeting Aug. 4. It couldn't be adopted until at least Aug. 18.

The current process starts either when someone files a complaint with the police department or a nuisance-abatement officer notices a lot that violates the city code. Under the code, any weeds or grass taller than "10 inches on average within 200 feet of any building or 100 feet of any improved street" are classified as a nuisance.

Stucker or one of two other officers inspects the property. He determines who the property owner is and notifies him that he must clean up his property or go to a hearing no sooner than seven days from the notification. If it goes to a hearing, and the owner is found in violation, he then has five days to clean up the property. If it isn't clear by then, the city mows it and bills the property owner for the costs. If the property owner doesn't pay, the costs with interest are put on the owner's property tax bill.

Stucker said nearly all violators comply right after being notified. Most who don't are absentee landlords, generally from out of town.

Russell and Norma Stauter of Garden Grove, Calif., own the property at 708 N. Main, according to city records.

Stucker said that with the time it takes to inspect a property, find the owner, schedule a hearing and send the order to the public works department to mow the property, it often is 17 days from the complaint to the mowing. Since the weeds must be at least 10 inches high when the process starts, they could be much higher before the city crews take care of them, Stucker said. If it rains on the day the crew was scheduled, it could be higher still.

In the case of the property on North Main, Stucker said he has to initiate the process each year starting when the weeds exceed 10 inches.

Neumeyer said he hopes to revise the law to shorten the time each step takes. He also wants the city to hire someone each summer who would do paperwork for Stucker and his inspectors, cutting down on their backlog and allowing them to spend more time in the field.

Stucker said violations exist in all parts of the city.

For the residents on North Spanish, the ordinance revision could not come too soon. Nettie Brown, who lives on Pearl Street next to an overgrown abandoned house at 803 N. Spanish, said the weeds next door make her well-kept house look bad.