Don Sherrod has found he is not in a very popular position. He has been appointed by the Saratoga Town Council to start work on cleaning up areas in the town of Saratoga.
Sherrod told the council June 2 that he would like to have someone from the council to fill out the board that he and Randy Raymer are serving on for the clean up.
The ordinance passed by the Saratoga Town Council in 2010 has a lot of leeway, Sherrod told the council.
Sherrod asked the council for permission to proceed to contact people who are in violation. “I found it quite effective when I was a police officer,” Sherrod said. He would tell them when they did something and allowed them time to take care of it.
“That is the way I would like to start this,” Sherrod said. “It depends on what you want,” he told the council.
Saratoga Town Councilman Will Faust said that he thought approaching this “very softly” was a great idea.
Sherrod said that was his thinking because this ordinance had not been enforced for quite a period of time.
“I think we need to remind people about (the ordinance),” Sherrod said.
He wants to serve notice and then give the residents time to think about how they will resolve the issue.
Faust said the town of Saratoga needs to make the residents aware of what the council expects.
Sherrod said 99 percent of the people will respond positively and work toward a resolution if he is upfront about it with them.
“I don’t want to pick a fight with anybody,” Sherrod said, “but this town is trashy. It needs some help. I’ve got some ideas, but I need some guidance from the council on what your desires are.”
Saratoga Town Councilwoman Judy Welton said there are some residences that are definitely in violation and she wasn’t quite sure how to approach them. “Do you tread lightly or bring a big stick?” Welton asked.
Sherrod said he plans to meet with the chief of police Tom Knickerbocker during the week to talk about enforcement of the ordinance.
Ordinance 796, which was passed in August 2010 identifies the following as nuisances:
• The accumulation or storage of more than four derelict, abandoned, wrecked, dismantled, unlicensed or inoperative vehicles, or derelict, abandoned, wrecked, dismantled equipment, trailers, motor homes, litter or junk on private or public property, is hereby found to create a condition tending to reduce the value of private property, to promote blight and deterioration, to invite plundering, to create fire hazards, to constitute an unattractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors, to create a harborage for insects, rodents, skunks and other vermin and to be injurious to the health, safety and general welfare of the public.
• Obnoxious and offensive odors caused by dead, dying, rotting carcasses, animal feces or household refuse not stored in appropriate containers shall constitute a public nuisance.
• The placing, throwing or discharging from or out of any house or premises, of any filthy, foul or offensive matter, liquid or effluent of any kind, into any street, alley or public place, or upon any adjacent lot or ground, shall constitute a public nuisance.
• The emission of dense smoke from any fire, chimney, engine, oil burner or other means within the Town causing unreasonable annoyance or discomfort to the public shall constitute a nuisance.
• Weeds determined to be noxious by the Wyoming Weed and Pest Council, any weeds such as jimson, burdock, ragweed, thistle, cocklebur or other weeds of a like kind found growing in any lot or tract of land in the town.
• Any weed, grass or plants, other than trees, bushes, flowers or other ornamental plants, growing to a height that they create a unsafe condition anywhere in the Town. The exception would be naturally occurring plant life in undeveloped areas of the town.
• Unlicensed, abandoned or junk vehicles and parts or remains thereof parked upon private property, public property, public streets, alleys or right-of-ways are declared to be nuisances.
• Any iron, glass, weeds, metal, lumber, stumps, grass, trash, straw, hedge trimmings, cut tree branches, paper, cordage, cloth, construction debris building material not intended for immediate use or other waste or discarded material of any nature or substance whatsoever or any scrap or salvage materials which are left or permitted to remain for any unreasonable period of time upon any Town property within or without the corporate limits of the Town or upon or within the entire width between the boundary lines of every right-of-way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel shall constitute a nuisance.
• Additional Junk not within the confines of a privacy fenced area of the private property in accordance with any other ordinance of the Town.
For the complete ordinance, visit the town of Saratoga’s website at http://www.saratoga.govoffice2.com and click on ordinances and resolutions.
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