By Brittany Strickland

October 12, 2007 | RIVER HEIGHTS -- Marjean Melville is fed up. The reason: she says her neighbor has intruded upon her property and her patience by piling "junk" in his backyard. The conflict has been going for approximately five years. According to Melville's daughter, Sandra, all that their family wants is "the junk cleaned up and the fence fixed."

The City Council met on Tuesday to discuss the complaint. After seeing the pictures of the mess, the council agreed that Melville's neighbor is clearly in violation of the Nuisance Ordinance for the city.

Members debated as to how to handle this problem. Mayor Bill Baker suggested the city could write them a letter. Councilwoman Kathryn Hadfield suggested a "warning letter" at the least and Councilman Blake Wright discovered a process in the city code that allows the council to try multiple attempts to get the mess cleaned up.

If the warnings do not work, the council will be forced to take a more authoritative role through the use of invasive actions such as fines and small claims court.

Wright said, "I think what we ought to do is probably send a letter from the city saying that a complaint has been filed -- an oral complaint -- and request that they take care of the problem."

On the basis of Wright's idea, a copy of the Nuisance Ordinance will be sent to the accused and a deadline of 14 days will be set for this individual to clean up the property and remove the pieces that have encroached upon Melville's land.

In other business, the council:
-- mentioned that they will be meeting the candidates on Wednesday, Oct. 17. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the City Office Building. All may attend.
-- discussed the outside water which has been recently shut off and restored.
-- reviewed the sheriff's reports of Deputy Wayne Lewis.

The council meets the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the City Office Building, 520 S. 500 East.

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