Town to step up ordinance enforcement this summer

If your weeds are 12 inches tall or taller, or your property is littered with unlicensed junk vehicles or just plain old junk, expect a visit from a Lovell police officer this summer.

“The citizens have made enforcing the (weed and junk) ordinance a priority,” said Lovell Town Administrator Jed Nebel. “We get a lot of complaints, and it’s been voiced to the council by its constituents to make this a priority.”

The applicable ordinances are listed on the town’s website www.townoflovell.com.

“Initially, people will be given a 14-day notice requesting abatement,” explained Nebel. “If they do not remedy the situation in 14 days, they are cited for the violation.”

According to Nebel, after the 14-day period, a citation will be issued every day until the property is in compliance. The original warning notice stays in effect for six months. Once the property has been cleared of weeds, trash and/or junk, the property must remain in compliance for six months to avoid more citations. In chronic cases, the individual property owner and/or renter may be required to go to court where a judge, at his or her discretion, can issue a fine up to $750 per violation.

“Our plan is to prioritize enforcement, but we ask the public to bear with us as we are two officers down right now,” said Nebel.

Nebel added that the majority of people in town are concerned when they see a property that is not in compliance.

“When you decide to live in a town, you are part of a community,” he explained. “Basically, we work together on things. It matters if your neighbor does or does not take care of their yard.”

Chief of Police Roger Haney acknowledged that there are occasional circumstances that prevent a property from being in compliance.

“People have to be mindful that it is not always the person’s fault,” said Haney. “You don’t know what’s going on in their life. They may be sick. They may not be around very often. They may not be able to take care of it for some reason or another. Our officers try to work with them. They try to enforce with compassion in these situations.

“If a person has issues, we work with them to come up with a solution, especially if it’s a big job. It didn’t get that way overnight, so it won’t get solved overnight. The key is that we have to see some movement toward compliance. If someone is making an effort, we’re willing to work with them.”

The town does take legal action in extreme cases.

“What people don’t understand is that it takes time to build a case,” Nebel said. “Many times, it’s a safety or fire hazard, and it takes time to prove that. On the flip side, there are people who want us to do things that would violate a person’s personal and private property rights. They want us to seize property and clean it up ourselves. In that situation, they’re asking us to break the law, and we won’t do that.”

Nebel said he feels the town has made headway in the past few years cleaning up town properties.

“It took us a long time to get on a weed spraying schedule and all that,” he said. “When I first started, I was almost ashamed to give weed enforcement notices when some of the town lots were the worst offenders. There is certification required to do this in public parks, and that’s why we have training and certification to do it this way. We have an ag license for this, and we have to keep records of where we sprayed and when we sprayed it. We have to post it in certain areas.”

Haney noted a number of resources that are available to help keep properties in compliance with the code, including a vegetative waste site available for dumping plant materials that is free. A limited time free dumping period takes place every year, where individuals can take items to the North Big Horn Landfill site located near Lovell for no fee. Both the burning and fee free dumping programs have already taken place this spring but will most likely be offered again sometime in the fall. Call the Lovell Police Department for more information regarding the specific dates and rules surrounding these opportunities.

In cases where an individual is not able to comply, due to age or disability, for example, a person may speak directly to an officer regarding the problem. Haney said the department will work with individuals who want to comply but are having difficulty.