Residents who junk up their property can expect to hear a knock on their door soon as the city board of mayor and aldermen has ordered a crackdown on unsightly properties in Smithville.

“We just aren’t enforcing the ordinance,” declared Alderman Gayla Hendrix as she look at a picture provided by a local resident who came before the board, stating she was tired of her neighbors not maintaining their yard.

The city has an ordinance regarding unkempt property but aldermen agreed during their recent meeting that it was not being vigorously enforced.
“People are fed up with it,” said Alderman Danny Washer. “More people need to speak out.”

Under the city statute, home owners can be fined $50 plus court costs for violating the city’s unsightly property ordinance. Court costs can run over $100, making it an expensive citation.

The board decided to issue two warnings on a pair of properties in the city against which two neighbors complained to the council at their last meeting. The property owners will have 10 days to clean up their land once the advisory is issued. Police officers were directed to personally knock on the doors and serve the papers this past week.

“If it’s not cleaned up then we can go in there, clean it up and bill them,” said Mayor Jimmy Poss of what the ordinance allows if the property owners thumb their noses at the warning letter.

Hendrix insisted that the city also issue citations and level fines against violators, noting residents who violate the law hurt property values for everyone around them by failing to cut their grass, clean up trash and maintain their structures.