Peabody tightens requirements for reclaiming nuisance properties
In its first special meeting of the new year Thursday, the Peabody City Council moved forward with a plan to put stronger measures into place to eliminate dangerous and nuisance properties within the city limits.
Peabody City Clerk Cindy Harms told the council she had consulted with the city attorney and on his advice she was proposing the council enact a settlement agreement for owners of nuisance properties.
Under this plan, if the owner expressed an interest in reclaiming the property and making it habitable, he would have to enter into a legal agreement with the city following a public hearing in regard to his property.
The property would then be inspected by the city engineer. The council and property owner would be apprised of the need repairs and upgrades, and a specific time line for completion of the project would be instituted.
If, after this recommendation, the owner still chose to pursue fixing up his property, he would be required to enter into the legal agreement with the city of Peabody.
The agreement would be legally binding and if, at any time, the owner were to default on his obligation, the city would have the right to pursue demolition with all costs assessed to the property owner.
After considerable discussion, the council instructed Harms to contact the city's attorney for additional information. A decision on the more stringent requirements was tabled until a future meeting.
The balance of the meeting was devoted to the discussion of hiring an additional maintenance employee.
Council members discussed adding two full time people and eliminating the two seasonal positions. But in the end, none of the members felt the city could afford or utilize four full time city workers. The consensus of the council was that a third employee is needed by the city and that the two seasonal positions were necessary.
The problem of funding an additional person was raised. No decision was reached by the council at the meeting, but the group agreed to hold a special meeting Jan. 21 with the intention of presenting a plan for funding the salary of a third person.
Discussed was a proposal to cut the hours of the two current full-time employees from 50 hours a week to 40 hours a week, but increase their hourly wage slightly. The council will look through the budget to see if there are funds which could be diverted to make up the balance of the salary for the third person.
Current employees will be allowed to address the council with their reaction to any proposal the council recommends before the council votes.
The council's next regular meeting will be on Monday.
