MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon city officials, in an effort to tighten code enforcement, are turning their attention to inoperable cars and junk vehicles.
At Monday’s meeting, the Mount Vernon City Council discussed a proposed ordinance that addresses what Assistant City Inspector Brian Marvin calls blight on the city.
“For me, as I roll through a city, if I start seeing broken down cars in front yards and in alleyways, it says a lot about the city,” Marvin said.
“It doesn’t send a good message about what the city thinks of itself, so I thought it was very important that we start with this blight and try to clean things up.”
Safety-service Director Tanner Salyers said although the city has some codes in place, procedures put the onus on the police department.
“Where our code enforcement fell, they really kind of fell flat,” Salyers said. “So there is a lot of opportunity for things to accumulate in yards.”
Salyers said the current code lacks a step-by-step enforcement mechanism.
“We spelled that out in this [proposed ordinance]. We wanted to make sure people knew what to expect from our codes so they can pull up our codes, look at the rules, understand those rules in plain language, and then they would know what they would expect from our code enforcement officers,” he said.
Marvin, a former detective with the Reynoldsburg Police Department, agrees that clarification is needed.
“I read some of the ordinances in the city as former law enforcement and find myself a bit confused,” he said.
“I see holes in these ordinances, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to use my experience to tighten it up a little bit and make everything real clear — not only for the city to do better, but for the citizens.”
Most residents comply with inoperable car regulations
Marvin said city code allows him to enter a yard and inspect the vehicle. However, he prefers sending a letter to the property owner.
“To get out of the vehicle every time I have to deal with someone, knock on the door, and have that conversation, especially with people becoming upset with me, it’s not safe for me and also consumes a lot of time,” he said.
Salyers acknowledged that property owners receiving a letter are not very happy. However, he said the city hears from neighbors who express gratitude.
Although people cooperate 90% of the time, Marvin said some people push back, saying the cars are collector cars.
Towing vehicles is a joint effort between Marvin, the towing company, and the police department.
“I’m not in a situation where I’m going to go deal with someone and take your vehicle by myself because me nor the tow truck driver can defend ourselves,” Marvin said.
The police department has removed nine cars. Thirteen owners registered their cars after receiving a notice from Marvin. Another 55 removed the cars themselves.
“It doesn’t really matter if it’s front yard, back yard. If you can see it, it’s a problem. It attracts rodents, rots, collects rust, and leaks fluids. It’s just an eyesore, so I have been addressing front, back yard, streets wherever I can find them and get them out.”
Brian Marvin, Mount Vernon assistant city inspector
Cleaning up vehicle blight
However, registering a vehicle is not enough.
“If you can’t drive it on the streets, it’s not operable,” Marvin said. “We’re not saying a person can’t have an old car, but it has to be roadworthy. You can’t just slap a tag on it and say we’re good to go.”
Marvin said he frequently hears complaints about vehicles parked in the front yard. The current code does not prohibit that.
The proposed changes do.
“Part of the updated ordinance is going to be cleaning that up. Again, nothing makes the town look worse than driving through and seeing pickup trucks in everyone’s front yard,” Marvin said.
For residents who want to rebuild cars, Marvin said they cannot leave them in pieces in the driveway. The car must be in a garage or the backyard behind a fence out of public sight.
Residents must also perform work on gravel or other improved surfaces to prevent leaking fluids from entering the soil.
“It’s not a big ask to say if you’re going to fix the car, have a place to park the car. Cars sitting on grass rot. They just rust quicker; they fall apart quicker. It’s just not a good thing,” Marvin said.
“This whole thing is not to just beat people up. It’s to get things straightened around.”
Scott Zimmerman, mount Vernon city inspector
Marvin said he also is working on removing trailers from front yards.
“What I’m dealing with is that there are laws on your books that haven’t been enforced for years, so your citizens have just accepted that it’s OK to do this,” he said.
“I’ve unfortunately had to go around and say it’s actually not OK to do this.”
The ordinance is up for a second reading at the July 28 city council meeting.
(Below are photos of some of the inoperable vehicles that the city has removed under existing regulations. Photos courtesy of the City of Mount Vernon.)
