At Monday night’s Clarkson City Commission meeting, a topic that has been percolating among commissioners for the last few months became the primary discussion point as commissioners are poised to become serious about cleaning up the look of the city.
In a discussion that ran nearly 45 minutes, Mayor Bonnie Henderson and commissioners discussed ways to force property owners to clean up their respective properties, particularly the appearance of several, older mobile homes in the city. Though any property deemed unkempt or a “problem property” is a target of commissioners.
City Attorney Tom Goff recommended, “A simple ordinance where we concentrate on getting things cleaned up. We need to look at the current ordinance (passed in 1997 but deemed insufficient), and focus on a good, clean ordinance replacing the one we have … and set up a new ordinance that covers everything.”
By “everything,” Goff is referring to not only property appearance but also fashioning the ordinance to cover treatment of animals that are kept exclusively (or nearly exclusively) outside to ensure the animals receive proper care.
Commissioners agreed to meet on June 5 at 8:00 a.m. and travel to the various locations in the city to take photographs and notes on properties judged eye sores. Commissioners will then return to Clarkson City Hall and hold a special called City Commission meeting at 9:30 a.m. to discuss the properties and determine the best way to move forward in confronting property owners.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
