Messy yards, big fines
New county codes enforce rural clean-up efforts
BY BYRON HENSLEY TSI News Editor

Owners of yards with unsightly messes in rural Coffee County have a new incentive to clean things up. The fine for having a mess in your yard bad enough to incite neighbors to complain has risen from $50 to a maximum of $500.

The increase in the fine for codes violations was one of the changes to the county's yard maintenance resolution approved last week by the Coffee County Commission. It will give the county's department of codes and safety new power to enforce the codes, Coffee County Zoning Administrator Ronnie Branch said.

The department typically receives 15 to 20 complaints a month regarding "

The open storage of household appliances, garbage, rubbish and similar items," such as junked vehicles or high weeds, Branch said.

"We can't act on anything unless someone who lives within 2,000 feet of it comes in and gives us a written complaint," Branch said."After we receive a complaint, we go out and investigate, take pic- tures and make sure it's a valid complaint. If so, we will send a certified letter notifying them, and normally give them 10 days to clean it up." If the mess is particularly big, a longer period to clean it up may be granted, he said.

After the time alloted for the clean up has passed, codes inspectors will go back to check on the property. If it has not been cleaned up, the department will issue a summons for the property owner to appear in General Sessions Court. The judge will issue a new deadline for the cleanup of the property.

The resolution allows each day that the problem is unresolved to count as a separate violation, each subject to the fine of up to $500. If it is satisfactorily cleaned, the judge may dismiss the case.

The money from the fine is turned over to the codes department's cleanup fund, whichthe department can use the money to pay for cleanup activities such as the removal of debris from a demolished house.

"The county doesn't have a public works department like the city does, so we have to contract that work out," Branch said. "This way we can clean up properties without using taxpayer money."