Plains decay ordinance advances

Members of the Plains Town Council signed off on the first reading of the proposed amendments to the Decay and Junk Vehicles Ordinance at last Monday’s May meeting at City Hall.

Council members spent little time in the discussion phase before unanimously voting in favor of the proposed ordinances, which will be covered under Title 7’s Health and Welfare portion of the Municipal Code of the Town of Plains.

“I wish you a lot of luck. I tried to get this done 20 years ago,” Plains resident Tom Charlton told the council members at the meeting. “There are some places here that are an absolute disgrace to this town,” he added.

Although it was the first official reading of the proposed ordinance, council members had a chance to look it over and make changes to it at a town workshop on May 3, when the council reviewed all the town ordinances. The proposed Decay and Junk Vehicle Ordinance is nearly a dozen pages long and covers a variety of issues, such as rubbish burning, noise, mobile homes, junk vehicles, and garbage, debris and refuse.

“This won’t be the answer to every concern, but it’s for the major things that have become a nuisance,” said Mayor Dan Rowan. “We’re just tired of junkyards in town,” he said. The second reading will take place at the June 4 meeting. If passed, it would become law 30 days later. Rowan said a lot of people have approached him asking for some type of ordinance on the issue of yards that make the neighborhood look bad.

In addition, the town will be conducting “Project Clean-Up Days” on Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in an effort to help townspeople who are unable to help themselves clean up their yards. Signup sheets have been tacked up on various places around town. The town has more than 30 volunteers who will meet at Fred Young Park prior to cleanup each day. Business have donated cleaning materials and the lot across from the fire department will be a collecting point for unwanted vehicle tires. The county dump just west of town has waived the fees for non-typical refuse for clean-up days.

The mayor also told the council he’s still ironing out minor details for the property swap, which will enable the Public Works Department and fire department to have separate buildings. Regardless, he said the present building needs about $7,500 of electrical work and about $15,000 worth of roof repair.