Washington City Council tables vote on ordinances to battle blight
Washington City Council will have to wait until later this month to approve three ordinances designed to combat blight.
The first reading of the ordinances took place Dec. 5 with a plan to approve the final reading of each when council met Dec. 8. According to the Third Class City Code, council was not able to approve the final reading that soon after the first reading.
“It says three days, but they don’t count the day of, and the day of the vote,” explained Mayor Scott Putnam. “So, it’s really five days. The second reading wouldn’t have been legal.”
The motions to vote on the ordinances were tabled and a special meeting will be held later this month.
One of the ordinances amends current regulations of abandoned properties and establishes an abandoned residential/commercial property registration program.
Another is the quality-of-life ticketing ordinance, geared toward expediting the enforcement process in battling blight. It would allow the city to levy a fine for violations of property maintenance such as high grass, garbage dumping and similar issues.
The third ordinance regulates the maintenance of junked motor vehicles and accessories and provides for penalties for violations.
Council did approve four properties for demolition, at 102 Hall Ave., 249 1/2 Elm St., 1100 Fayette St. and 345 McGiffen Ave.
There were eight properties on the agenda at a demolition hearing held prior to the Dec. 8 meeting. Putnam said the owners of four of them have made efforts to clean up the properties and have them removed from the demolition list.
“We did move four of them to demolition,” he said. “We’re going to give the other four some time and we’ll continue to monitor them. If they’re making progress, we’ll continue to let them have their houses and make them better for the city.”
The properties that have been given more time are 1226 Summerlea Ave., 535 and 541 West Chestnut St. and 276 Locust Ave.
Also, as expected, council adopted a 2023 budget with no tax increase.
The total general fund budget is $14,993,239. Millage in the city is levied at 38.71 mills for land and 4.03 for buildings. Those figures have remained the same since 2019.