North Judson Town officials continue to stress the importance of residents and business owners taking responsibility for the areas adjacent to their properties.
Both Ordinance Officer Kerry Rust and Town Superintendent Joe Leszek addressed a trend of property owners ignoring unkempt sidewalks and alleyways during their reports to the Town Council last week.
Officer Rust said he wanted to make sure owners are aware that they’re responsible for the alleys behind their properties and stressed that they should be removing weeds, trimming the grass and picking up any trash.
He also mentioned an issue with vegetation he’s seen on multiple sidewalks.
Rust explained, “There’s a lot of weeds that are standing tall along on sidewalks throughout the town. I’m going to start meeting with the property owners and letting them know that it still a part of their yard. Hopefully, we can get that taken care of.”
Town Superintendent Leszek said as the utility crews make their rounds, they plan to make note of the particularly problematic properties to pass the word along to Officer Rust.
Leszek noted, “He’s going to go through the process of writing them a warning, seeing if they’ll trim it back on their own and if not then we’ll go through the same process as mowing lawns. We’ll send out that 10-day letter and then we’ll go out there with Town Utilities and trim it back and bill them.”
Leszek said they’ve been utilizing Facebook as well as letters to residents to alert people that vegetation in alleys and on sidewalks is not the Town’s responsibility. He noted that the Utility Department plans to continue working in conjunction with Town Marshal Kelly Fisher and Ordinance Officer Rust on the effort.
