Council discusses signs, snow and garbage

RED OAK — Two ordinances on the book and one more under discussion will be receiving a closer look by the Red Oak City Council following its Oct. 18 meeting.
An ordinance regulating signs on commercial property and one requiring residents to clear snow off sidewalks were both discussed at the meeting. But it was the mandatory trash pick-up proposal that drew the most attention.
A committee composed of Council members Ivan Craig and Roger Waggener, City Administrator Brad Wright, Code Enforcement Officer Brad Baker, and representatives from Batten Sanitation and Town and Country Sanitation recently met and compiled a list of 14 recommendations.
Some of the recommendations included:
City bill for garbage collection;
Price to be determined through negotiation between City and garbage haulers;
City will add a to-be-determined administration fee to cover cost of billing, tracking, and possibly a community clean-up event;
Fees for hauling bulk items to be billed by hauler;
Properties will be charged for garbage collected as long as they are being charged a minimum water bill;
Haulers will provide City a list of customers on a monthly basis.
“There is still a lot to digest here,” Wright said. “The main thing for me was to communicate with the council where we are and what steps we need to take.”
Council member Mark Gregg commented he had only heard complaints about the proposal.
“I haven’t had a single positive comment from anybody,” Gregg said. “Every communication I’ve had are from people who want to keep it as it is.”
Counccil member Larry Brandstetter asked several questions regarding recycling, bulk trash pick-up, and temporarily discontinuing service, but Craig indicated he was unable to answer those questions this early in the process.
The Council agreed to table the matter until the first meeting in December.
Sign Ordinance
Under provisions of the new sign ordinance, the Council declared Maley Automotive’s sign on Broadway Street a nuisance.
The sign, which was constructed soon after the building in 1965, violates the sign ordinance as it is located on a non-adjacent piece of property, not owned by the business. Owner Gary Maley explained to the Council while the business is only about 100 feet from Broadway, other buildings block its visibility from the thoroughfare.
“If we lose our sign, people will have a hard time finding us,” Maley said. “We will comply with the ordinance [but] we just don’t want to lose our spot on Broadway.”
City Attorney Tom Stamets said since the sign is non-conforming according to the ordinance, neither the Board of Adjustment nor the City Council can issue a variance.
He said the Council will have to rewrite the ordinance to allow the sign.
By declaring the sign a nuisance, the Maley’s have 90 days to conform to the ordinance. During that time, the Council will further discuss possible changes to the ordinance that will allow for exceptions of this sort.
Snow Removal
At Brandstetter’s request, the Council also reviewed the ordinance which requires residents to clear their sidewalks within 24 hours of a snowfall.
Brandstetter noted during last year’s heavy snows, the ordinance went largely unenforced.
“I don’t have an answer to the problem, but I see the problem,” Brandstetter said. “I just don’t know where we go to get clean, safe sidewalks. I wish I had an answer, but I don’t.”
Under the current ordinance, residents have 24 hours to clean the sidewalk. Failure to do so can result in a warning citation being issued, and if the sidewalk remains uncleared for another 10 hours, a $10 ticket can be given.
However, the process requires a great deal of manhours resulting in a small fine.
“If we don’t have this throng of people to do this … then essentially, we have an ordinance we can’t enforce,” Brandstetter said.
One suggestion the Council considered is raising the fine to $50-100, hoping the larger amount would motivate residents to clear the sidewalks.
This matter will also be discussed further at a future meeting.