Resident wants city action on trailer on Monroe Street

By Brooks Taylor, Mt. Pleasant News

Warren Messer doesn?t like the exterior appearance of a trailer house on the 600 block of East Monroe Street and urged the Mt. Pleasant City Council to do something with the structure.

Speaking during the public forum portion of Wednesday?s council meeting, the Mt. Pleasant resident said the trailer was inhabitable.

?It is the worst eyesore in Mt. Pleasant,? Messer began. ?If any of you had to live in it for a week, you couldn?t do it. If you can condemn houses and commercial buildings, why can?t you condemn a trailer house? Why do you let a person stay in a rundown house and get away with it?

?If you can spend $9 million for a ?motel? for prisoners, why can?t you do something about the trailer house?? Messer asked.

The council said the matter will be referred to a council committee.

In other feedback matters, city officials said they received five pieces of correspondence concerning fireworks. The correspondence was not sharply critical, officials said. Most of the concerns regarded both the number of days allowed to shoot fireworks and the time period for discharging them each day. Residents also complained about fireworks debris in their yards.

Council members threw their support behind the proposed county law enforcement/jail complex by passing a resolution endorsing the project. In the resolution, the city said the current facility is inadequate to service the community needs and it has concerns about the safety of employees in the sheriff?s office and the amount of money being spent by the county to house inmates in jails in surrounding counties.

A request by the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance to block off four parking spaces on the west side of Central Park on South Jefferson Street for the July 21 Rock Around the Block event was amended. City Administrator Brent Schleisman noted that there are several restaurants on the west of Central Park on Jefferson Street. ?That is prime parking for those restaurants,? he said. Instead, the council agreed to block off four parking spaces on the south side of Central Park.

Two planning and zoning matters were approved by the council. One concerned a subdivision plat in the Parks Subdivison, adjacent to the Mt. Pleasant Country Club on the north side and on the west side of Hickory Avenue. One lot is being subdivided into two parcels to allow the building of a home.

The council approved only the split of the lot, and Schleisman said the city retains the right to review the plat if parcels are split again.

Steffes Auction House on East Commerce Drive also asked for an amendment of its site plan ?for a minor reconfiguration of the driveway. It will allow the access of parking in a slightly different way,? explained Jack Swarm, city building and zoning administrator.

The planning and zoning commission had recommended approval of both requests.

The final piece of business included a change order on the Baker Street reconstruction. Additional quantities of materials increased the price of the project by $3,300.31.

Brian Carter and Ed Kropa of the Mt. Pleasant Public Library Board of Directors gave a fiscal year-end report on the library. Carter said the library finished the fiscal year slightly under budget. He also said the library has amended its hours, now opening at 9 a.m. on weekdays and closing at 2 p.m. on Saturday. ?It?s an even split,? Carter said concerning the earlier opening on weekdays and closing on Saturday. Carter also said a children?s librarian has been hired, replacing Brittany Nichols, who resigned after four years of service to the library.

Kropa said that for the size of the library, ?we are doing well. We are in the top tier of libraries for communities of our size.?

Council members meet again in regular session Wednesday, July 26, at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 307 E. Monroe St.