VW Council discusses parking lots, blight

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Commercial parking lots and blighted properties seemed to be the focus of Monday night’s meeting of Van Wert City Council.

Properties and Equipment Committee Chairman David Stinnett brought up parking lots last month and revisited the issue and said it’s time to hold property owners accountable.

“I guess the year 2022 is going to be clean up year for Van Wert because we’ve been doing a lot of cleaning and I would like to take a look at parking lots inside our city,” Stinnett said. “They’re in very bad condition and it’s bad that we have to force pride in our community, but I feel that we’re at a point now where we need to take another step.”

“We’re asking our citizens to clean up, we’re cleaning up our blighted properties, it’s time to take another step and ask building owners to fix their parking lots,” he added.

Stinnett asked Law Director John Hatcher to draft legislation that would clarify and help enforce what’s already on the books. Hatcher mentioned the penalty for failing to comply is currently an unclassified misdemeanor punishable by a $500 a fine.

“Do we charge them for every day?” Hatcher asked. “For commercial property that might be the only response. If it’s months at a time that’s potentially a big issue.”

Hatcher indicated a draft form of legislation will likely be ready in time for city council’s next meeting.

Owners of blighted properties could hear from the city this year. Council members saw a draft letter that would go out to those property owners. It would require them to submit a plan to correct the problem and complete the work within six months.

“It’s something that will allow us and those people that have those properties to do something with them,” Health, Service and Safety Committee Chairman Bill Marshall said. “If they decide they want to fix the property we’re willing to give them the time to do it, it’s not like they have to have it done tomorrow. We’ll certainly be very lenient in allowing them to correct the problem.”

Revisions will be made to the draft letter before it goes out. A dozen such properties fall into the blighted category, but it’s expected only two letters will go out at a time.

During his report to council, Hatcher addressed an email that was sent to Council President Jerry Mazur about fourth amendment rights being violated.

“They stated they believe the police department is violating individuals fourth amendment rights by taking photographs of their yards for the junk ordianances,” Hatcher stated. “I would disagree – I think this person is taking a small blip off of someone’s website and acting like that applies directly to what’s going to what’s going on here.”

“There’s a lot more to it than that person believes. They’re investigating a violation of city ordinance so they have probable cause to be there to take photographs. It’s not like they’re going into people’s garage or into people’s outbuildings or looking in windows. They’re there for a specific purpose and they don’t exceed that.”

City Auditor Martha Balyeat told council members that first quarter general fund revenues were up between $90,000 and $100,000, and Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming said the city recently sold a street sweeper for $85,000, or $25,000 more than the minimum bid.

During his brief report, Mayor Ken Markward offered additional congratulations to Brett Schumm, who was recently named Firefighter/EMT of the Year. He also reminded council members that city hall will close at 11:30 a.m. for Good Friday and he noted city taxes and water bills are due by Monday, April 18.

In other business, council members agreed to re-appoint Mark Schumm to the Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation board.

Monday night’s meeting was live streamed on the city’s website. Future meetings may be live streamed, depending on a price quote for necessary equipment.

Before the meeting a public information session was held to answer questions about the national gas aggregation issue on the May 3 ballot. Only a handful of people were in attendance and Amy Hoffman of Palmer Energy Associates pointed out it’s identical to electric aggregation, which has been in place for years. She also said if the issue passes, residents can opt-in or out at any time and she said if natural gas prices suddenly rise, those already enrolling will have their rates locked in at the previous rate.

The next meeting of Van Wert City Council will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, in Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St.