CODE: Clean up required

with all the houses coming in… so we could stay on top of it to keep the city looking nice and aesthetically pleasing,” See said.

The first step after receiving a complaint is to look at the property to assess whether the complaint is warranted. Then, the code enforcement officer writes a letter advising the property owner of the violation. The letter is sent by certified mail and See said that once the letter has been accepted, the property owner, or tenant, has seven days to remedy the violation.

At the end of the seven days, the code enforcement officer may visit the property and remind the property owner the city can legally clean the property and charge the property owner for the man hours and equipment costs to clean the property.

See said there are no fines associated with the letter.

Conditions which the city has addressed include extremely tall grass, trash on the property, junk in the front yard, inoperable vehicles in the front yard, trailers parked on the street for more than 24 hours. He said in one situation, city employees found a broken sewer line beneath the tall vegetation and garbage.

“There are not very many times we will do anything without a complaint,” See said, explaining that city employees do not have the time to just search for violations. He said some conditions are unhealthy such as a couple of situations where the property owner had tires or ponds that were holding water and creating breeding ground for mosquitoes.

“The most important part is, we’re try to keep Pea Ridge aesthetically pleasing,” See said. “We are trying to get our city to look good, to make and be proud of what we have.”

“We want to be proud of what we have and take responsibility to keep our property clean and neat and be neighborly,” he said.