Council to vote on property rules July 28

Published 4:19 pm Wednesday, July 15, 2009

With one minor change made Tuesday, the Baker City Council will

consider a proposed Property Maintenance Code for the first time during

its next meeting July 28.

Following first and second readings that night, the new nuisance ordinance could become law as soon as Aug. 11.

The single change allows for an unlimited number of car covers for vehicles that are under repair and parked on a property. That tool, available to property owners to keep them on the safe side of the new ordinance, is in addition to a previous alteration that allows for sight-obscuring fences to hide discarded vehicles.

Not everyone who testified last night supported everything in Ordinance 3292, but residents agreed it would help eradicate the persistent properties inside the city limits that, in the words of the proposal law’s preamble, “adversely affect the value, utility and habitability of the property within the city as a whole. In addition to the obvious hazards which these conditions pose to public health, safety and welfare, they specifically cause substantial damage to adjoining and nearby property.”

Ron Bell, who’s frequently asked councilors to help him deal with a neighbor’s property, said he liked the original proposal, drafted by city staff, more than the current product.

“It was a lion, but now it’s a pussycat with dentures,” Bell said. “I wish you hadn’t done that. We trust city staff to give us the best document they can, and this isn’t the document to do that.”

Interim City Manager Tim Collins said the proposal will actually strengthen the city’s enforcement ability, making it quicker because it removes the requirement that the city send a third set of notices to property owners who are in violation.

That action will place enforcement actions in Municipal Court faster, he told councilors.

This pleased Councilor Milo Pope.

“I desperately want us to adopt this ordinance as it exists,” he said, “and let us get to the business of enforcing this. We can’t keep wollying it around and piddling with it. Let’s assure these folks it will be the agenda at our next meeting and we will start the adoption process.”

Councilors voted 7-0 to do just that.

Russ Murphy proposed establishing a “good neighbors association, some with money, others with time, to be available to assist” people who are disabled, out of work, or financially short of funds to fix their properties, he said.

“I’d like to be part of that,” Murphy told councilors.

Police Chief Wyn Lohner said that the department’s code enforcement officer, Shannon Regan, has a list of groups and people willing to provide services to people who violate the new ordinance but are unable to take care of the problem.

But sometimes even that help is not wanted, Lohner said.

“On a couple of difficult properties she has gone to great lengths to line up help, but at times she finds people who don’t want the help,” Lohner said. “If this gentleman wants to start a group, there’s no reason we can’t add it to the list. It’s another resource we can provide to the citizens.”

Don Williams pointed out that the proposed ordinance doesn’t address “perpetual garage sales” in which “inside furniture is being stored outside.”

Collins said he couldn’t find a prohibition against perpetual garage sales in other city ordinances, either, but said he didn’t believe the new ordinance was the place to address the problem.

Suzanne Moses said that in her 15 years living in Baker City, it’s apparent “we’re moving in the right direction” with cleaning up problem properties. “The contrast with how things were 15 years ago is remarkable, and I think it’s important to keep that in mind.”

Alice Lentz said that her work in social services has helped convince her that people do take pride in their community, but that “some people will say, ‘Don’t touch my junk,’ and if it’s not a safety hazard, I’m right there with them. There is a shared responsibility to improve our world and to leave it a better place than we found it, but on what level? On beauty, or on solid safety and community issues, and that is where I’d like to see the emphasis put. I don’t want to see people being portrayed as bad characters.”

In a letter to Collins and City Councilors, Barbara Fleming made a similar point.

“I realize government has a role to play,” she wrote. “Threat of liens are no doubt effective, but seem to me unfair. They suggest an uncaring attitude. I see more a poor, old, tired or jobless person needing assistance.”

Collins said that under the new ordinance, the whole process, from the moment Regan has an initial talk with the property owner to the time the city abates the problem, could be as little as two months.

“Two months for the wheels of justice to turn is exceedingly quick,” Collins said. “That is the quickest that you could expect action.”

The proposed ordinance is available online at www.bakercity.com.