SULPHUR SPRINGS -- The 8:30 a.m. meeting with the Sulphur Springs mayor, members of the city council and a few volunteers from this small town along Arkansas Highway 59 proved how city officials can work with citizens to clean up condemned properties in their hometown.
The problem, this Sulphur Springs' property at 305 S. Bush Ave., began its day mosquito infested and a hideout for snakes and rats. Two and one half hours later, the abandoned property took on a clean look, even though the house still has a condemned sign posted in its front yard.
This sign reads, "This property is unsafe and/or unsanitary," as designated by Sulphur Spring's ordinance.
Although this is only one of several properties condemned in Sulphur Springs by the city council, the before and after of this house are an example of what a two-hour committed effort by a small group of concerned citizens can do to temporarily solve an abandoned property's unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
"What about the property owners? Shouldn't they help clean up?" councilwoman June Murray asked.
Mayor Barber said he believes this property is in family estate litigation and could be there for some time. The council had designated the property's dump-yard condition as a threat to public health and safety.
This prompted Councilman Harris Steel to suggest the cleanup go forward soon. There had also been several complaints about the condition of the property by adjacent landowners.
At last week's special session, the council agreed to meet at 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 2 with pickup trucks, flatbed trailers and hand tools so citizens could feel safer from harmful mosquitoes and poisonous snakes. Some neighbors reported killing three copperhead snakes adjacent to the property within the past two weeks.
It took the group about two and one half hours to pile limbs, trees and garbage from the property's yard onto dump trailers. Mayor Barber hauled away four heavy loads stacked high on his trailer. It might have taken much longer if the Barber family had not showed up with heavy equipment.
David Barber, of Barber's Butler Creek Auction House, brought two of his toys to help the cause, a bulldozer and a Bobcat loader. The loader proved its worth. David Barber drove the Bobcat and, with it, he piled up debris and scraped clean the property's back yard. He cleaned where the property's owners had piled several heaps of building materials a few years back during an attempted inside-the-house renovation. The loader served the group well. It was estimated that it would have taken at least two days to remove all the garbage by hand.
According to city ordinance, the city could tally up the man hours and equipment cost and present a bill to the property's owners for its cleanup. Then, if the owners do not pay the bill, the city could place a lien on the property for that amount plus all the court's cost and any additional fees, which could add up to hundreds of additional dollars in cost to the owners.
Council member Steele suggested that more of the town's residents become involved with the Sulphur cleanup campaign. For, like most small towns along Highway 59, strapped for funds, city governments need their citizens to step up to the plate and pitch in to help their neighbors, as well as protect their own health and safety.
The successful project shows how an hour or two donated by 12 citizens can go far to keep Sulphur Springs' properties clean and well maintained for the public's good -- for community health and safety.
Those helping with the property's cleanup were Mayor Greg Barber; council members Harris Steele, Shane Webber and June Murray; and volunteers Scott Webber, Larry Burge (along with David and Shirley Barber and their son Levi), as well as Rod, Kim and Abbey Rogers.
General News on 10/07/2015