CLINTON — In spite of the long legal process in some cases, Clinton officials said Monday the city was making an effort to deal with ordinance violations, vacant houses and refuse in general.

Clinton resident John Bartuch addressed city commissioners during Monday’s council meeting, which opened a discussion about city beautification.  Bartuch has been dismayed by clutter he sees in his E. Adams Street neighborhood and what he feels is an unwillingness by some residents to obey city ordinances.

Bartuch presented a petition containing residents’ signatures to the city.

“People have no respect for the property they let their dogs do their business on, and they just walk away,” Bartuch said.

He said he offered a bag to one person who, “just walked away as if I wasn’t talking to him.”

Bartuch urged the council get the police department more involved in enforcing ordinance violations.

For their part, Police Chief Ben Lowers said his department was working at their best pace to enforce city code; it was primarily a matter of available staff.  The department no longer has a civilian code enforcement officer, so police officers use part of their week to conduct that work.

Lowers said two changes were helping in the department’s code enforcement efforts.  Fines have been increased and the process for prosecuting ordinance violations has changed.

He said prosecuting them now through the circuit court would provide “more teeth in the ability to gain compliance.”

The department has two fewer officers than in 2001, when Lowers joined the department.  There currently are 13 Clinton Police officers.

“Our enforcement is minimal because we have an extremely high rate of compliance,” Lowers said.  

Lowers said he didn’t expect ordinance enforcement to become a revenue-generating enterprise.

“What I want is compliance.”

He said he shared with Bartuch the goal of cleaning things up.

In regard to violations such as overgrown grass and abandoned or vacant houses, city administrator Tim Followell said the city follows the code and appropriate legal procedures, which often can take time.

He also said that city crews mow as many as a dozen lawns that are in violation during a season in addition to their normal duties.

“What people might not get is, that to be in violation, grass has to be more than eight inches tall, and then we have to give a seven-day notice,” Followell said.

If that fails, the property owner is ticketed.

“By the time we’ve done that, especially in the spring, you’re not eight inches tall, you’re somewhere around a foot and a half.”

He said workers would rather mow the grass when it was shorter, “but that’s what the law allows.”

Bartuch expressed his frustration that homeowners were not taking care of their properties.

“As a homeowner, it’s not anybody else’s responsibility to keep my place looking nice.  It’s my responsibility,” he said

Mayor Roger Cyrulik was sympathetic to Bartuch’s concern.

“We see a lot of properties get used up without any repairs,” he said.

And, compounding the problem, Followell said, was the rate of home foreclosures.

“Foreclosures are a nightmare,” Followell said.

Since it can be as much as a year before a lending institution gains control of a property this slows the process.

“And, many of these loans are sold to out-of-town banks, and they don’t care,” said commissioner Tom Edmunds.

In spite of the often-slow pace of addressing some ordinance compliance problems, the city was working on the issues, commissioners assured Bartuch.