Knox City Attorney Autumn Ferch updated the Board of Works about a non-compliant property on West Locust Street when members met last Wednesday.
She explained that she was recently contacted by the property owner’s attorney and he asked the board to consider waiving the fines that have been accrued so far if the owner successfully cleans up the property to the city’s standards.
She told the attorney that if it was a possibility, it would be put on the August agenda and that Director of Building and Code Compliance Kenny Pfost would be in touch with the owner to ensure that all the violations were addressed.
This property was initially discussed by the Board of Works during a hearing in March. At that time, the owner was given a month to take care of the violations identified by Director Pfost. The owner was in attendance and said he was making an effort to clean up the property.
When the Board of Works met the following month, the owner did not attend and Pfost said, while there were some minor improvements to the property, it still wasn’t in compliance so an additional fine was assessed.
Ferch reminded members about the property, noting that a number of vehicles and a few trailers that were initially parked there and that various items were cluttering the yard surrounding the home. She added that a total of $900 in fines have been racked up so far.
During last week’s meeting, board member Jim Collins mentioned that the ultimate goal is to have the property clean so if they can manage to get that done he suggested waiving the fines.
Member Steve Dodge was in agreement but said he felt they should make the completion deadline prior to the date of their next meeting. Officials settled on the Monday before their August meeting which will be the 26th.
A motion was made to allow Ferch to discuss the arrangement with the owner’s attorney in addition to waiving the fees, pending that the property is cleaned to Director Pfost’s standards by Monday, August 26th. The motion passed with a unanimous vote.
