Dealing with high grass and similar nuisances in Pevely should take less time after the Board of Aldermen on Monday changed the municipal code, officials said.
Board members voted 8-0 to amend the code regarding weeds, high grass, vegetation, trees, debris and related nuisance abatement procedures. Ward 1 Aldermen Don Menkhus, the mayor pro tem, ran the meeting in the absence of Mayor Steve Markus.
City officials said the amended code goes into effect immediately.
Richard Fadler, the Pevely building official, said the major change in the code would require violators to go through an administrative process rather than being sent to the court system.
“The reason we’re doing this is because my initial plan was to streamline the issue with our violations, the grass cutting,” Fadler told the board. “There was a lot of red tape in the way.”
He said he had found the city’s municipal code did not comply with current state statutes. The amended code does now comply, he said.
In the past, dealing with a property in violation of city code could stretch out for weeks by the time a notice was given to the property owner and for the case to go through the court system, Fadler said.
“The issue was, it could take three weeks-plus to get the grass cut,” Fadler said. “I was trying to remove that. No citations, do it all administratively, and just issue them a notice to cut. They don’t cut in 10 days, we send somebody out to cut.”
Now, the situation can be addressed by a “designated official” of the city as defined by the code, which includes the mayor or designated staff members.
Alderman Mike Hite of Ward 1 suggested reducing the high grass limit in the code from 10 inches to 7 inches. Even under the new process for dealing with a violation, the grass in question could be significantly taller than when first addressed.
Under the amended code, a property deemed to be in violation of the code will receive a notice from the city and has 10 days to address the issue. If the issue is not addressed by then, an administrative hearing can be held to determine if the property is in violation.
If it is found in violation, the city may remove or abate the nuisance after five days. At that point, the city clerk will prepare a special tax bill against the property for the abatement or removal costs.