02 City Council Minutes 8-09-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Regular City Council Meetrng August 9, 2004 Page 9 Councilman Wilson said he would like to put an ordinance on the books that says for the City to take photos of the stuff and then remove it, and then attach a$50 fee to the water bill, so the next person who comes to pay a deposit will get it. He explained he didn't mean they would have to pay for it, but would take it to the landlord that is putting that stuff out there, so he would have to pay for it. City Attorney Schenk said the City has authority to place a lien on a property for things done to that property, but there is a due process before that can be done. He commented that the City also gets complaints from the landlords about tenants putting trash out. Councilman Bell spoke as a landlord and said that it took almost an act of Congress to get the water turned on to get that trash picked up and then, there will be an automatic $44.00 minimum water bill plus the fee for the pick-up. He felt, if the landlord already had a water account elsewhere, they should just be able to pay a bulk pick-up fee and have that picked up. Finance Director Anderson said that's the problem; the landlord doesn't want to pay and the next tenant doesn't want to pay; no one wants to pay. City Attorney Schenk said the problem is they have to identify where it is and then, identify if it can be picked up and billed to a current account. He continued that if there wasn't an account to bill it to, then they had to go through due process to figure out whom they can bill it to and all that takes time. Interim City Manager Townsend said that was an isolated situation and that he has them pick up trash like that all the time, just to get it picked up. John Brunson, solid waste supervisor, said in that particular situation, the tenant had not paid a water bill in over a year and one-half.