{"id":155922,"date":"2022-07-12T03:42:51","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T08:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=155922"},"modified":"2022-07-18T03:44:43","modified_gmt":"2022-07-18T08:44:43","slug":"council-suspends-grass-law-reverses-course","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/07\/12\/council-suspends-grass-law-reverses-course\/","title":{"rendered":"Council halts grass law, reverses course"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enforcement of Van Wert\u2019s grass cutting law was suspended for a brief time on Monday \u2013 very brief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Second Ward Councilman David Stinnett made a motion to suspend enforcement of city ordinance 98.02, which says grass at residences and businesses must be kept at six inches or lower, council members unanimously voted in favor of it. However, after about 25 minutes of spirited discussion, the decision was rescinded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Safety-Service Director Jay Flaming talks about high weeds at the reservoir. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Stinnett\u2019s original motion was in response to complaints about high weeds in the rocks at the reservoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m asking the voting members (of council) to freeze 98.02, the grass ordinance, until the city comes back into compliance at the reservoir,\u201d Stinnett said. \u201cUntil the city comes under it\u2019s own ordinance, until the administration comes what we are telling these people to do, I want it frozen until then. I\u2019m just doing what my ward is asking me to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the vote, Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming spoke out against the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI understand what you want done but it\u2019s 3 1\/2 miles\u2026it\u2019s not like mowing around the fence in a backyard,\u201d Fleming said. \u201cThis is not something that just happened this summer. The reason it\u2019s a big issue is because we started enforcing grass (mowing) so now the retribution is it\u2019s coming back on us because we have some weeds at the reservoir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After more discussion, Stinnett backtracked and called for a vote to rescind the decision. The issue will be revisited in two weeks and if progress is being made, no action will be taken to suspend the grass cutting ordinance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

In other business, Law Director John Hatcher said there\u2019s been discussion into banning semi-trucks from turning right from Washington St. onto Main St., but he added the Ohio Department of Transportation will have the final say, since both roads are state highways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City Auditor Martha Balyeat said revenues are about $500,000 ahead of this time last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early on in the meeting, Council President Jerry Mazur said the city\u2019s code of ordinances will be better enforced when it comes to speaking at council meetings. He cited several parts of Chapter 30<\/a> of the code and said it\u2019s meant to keep order during meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health, Service and Safety Committee Chairman Bill Marshall reminded those in attendance that a Council of the Whole meeting will be held from 6:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, July 27, to discuss waste management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next regular meeting of Van Wert City Council will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 25, in Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 E. Main St.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Enforcement of Van Wert\u2019s grass cutting law was suspended for a brief time on Monday \u2013 very brief. After Second Ward Councilman David Stinnett made a motion to suspend enforcement of city ordinance 98.02, which says grass at residences and businesses must be kept at six inches or lower, council members unanimously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 06:07:03","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155922"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156071,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155922\/revisions\/156071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}