Council debates junk cars

        The Washington City Council approved the second reading of an ordinance to expedite the removal of junk vehicles from the city at its meeting Wednesday night. The council debated one of the changes that Councilman Mike Roth had written into the ordinance since the previous meeting. The new ordinance states that towing and repair businesses may not store an inoperable vehicle outside on their property for more than 30 days.

    City Administrator Dave Plyman said the ordinance would be difficult to enforce because it would require city officials to keep track of how long each junk vehicle on a business was left outside. He said that the current language of the ordinance would allow businesses to keep a constant supply of junk vehicles on their property as long as they did not let any one vehicle sit outside for more than 30 days.

    ?If what you want to do is to avoid the collection of junk vehicles, this language is not going to get you there,? said Plyman.

    Councilman Bob Shepherd expressed concern about how the ordinance might negatively affect towing and other automotive enterprises.

    ?We don?t want to harm successful businesses in town,? said Shepherd. ?My problem is, we?re setting a standard for businesses. Why are we doing that??

    Roth concurred with Shepherd?s sentiment, saying, ?We don?t want to be Big Brother.? He also responded to fears that the city would be taking away a resident?s property.

    ?We?re not taking their property; we?re impounding it,? said Roth. ?We?re giving them seven days to make up their mind about abating a nuisance.?

    Shepherd said he was not comfortable with the idea of impounding vehicles. Roth replied, ?I don?t think we?d impound many vehicles if we gave the owners the option to sell the vehicle.?

    The council also discussed a proposed development agreement worked out between Plyman and Jeremy Patterson. In December, Patterson presented a plan to the council to move the Mills Seed Building to an empty lot on North Iowa Avenue.

    The proposed agreement calls for the city to pay Patterson $25,000 after the city issues a certificate of occupancy, which is after the building has been moved.

For the full article, see our Jan. 21 print edition.