Noel OKs Nusiance, Abatement Ordinance

The Noel City Council on Tuesday night approved a new nuisance and abatement ordinance.

The new ordinance states that whenever the nuisance and abatement officer sees a nuisance on any premises in the city, he will issue a warning. The nuisance must be abated within 10 days of the warning, or the owner of the premises will receive a ticket. Only one warning will be issued per year for a specific nuisance from May 15 of the current year to May 15 of the following year.

Nuisance and abatement officer Rusty DeMoss said this ordinance will solve the problem of having to repeatedly issue warnings to the same people.

Also Tuesday night, the council spoke with Judge Robert Barth about the need to hire a new court clerk as soon as possible. The current court clerk’s last day is Friday, and training for new court clerks starts Monday in Jefferson City.

Fire Chief Brandon Barrett told the council he had tried a one-month trial with a smart phone app for fire calls called E-Dispatch. He said the app could replace the city’s current system of paging and save the city money. E-Dispatch costs $950 annually, whereas the city is now spending $3,500 annually for paging, he said. The council voted to approve the change.

In other business, the council:

· Discussed adopting a stretch of highway.

· Ratified a phone consensus to replace a Street Department backhoe’s axle for $3,200.

· Heard from DeMoss that the dog pound will hopefully be finished within a couple of weeks.