By Faith Callens, For The Tribune
CENTER POINT — The Center Point Council addressed several issues on Thursday, Feb.3 regarding one neighborhood in the city after a resident stated he filed multiple complaints.
Felton Jackson said he has sent in several complaints because of “too many rentals” and “too much trash” in his neighborhood.
“They are coming in trashing the neighborhood and want to park all on the lawn”, said Jackson. “[They are] also storing cars that are not running or don’t have tags on them, license, or insurance.”
Jackson said he believes every vehicle on the property should have a proper tag, license, or insurance.
“I have spoken to some neighbors and got tired of talking to them and I started calling the city and one thing I can’t understand is this, you have continuous complaints and I see these trucks going in and out of my neighborhood three to four times a day, why they can’t say, Well, hey look here, I have been at this house once and this here, problem has not been taken care”, said Jackson.
Jackson also spoke to the council about other issues in his neighborhood such as excessive leaves in his yard from neighbors, stuffed leaves on the sides of the streets and loose dogs.
“We have all ordinances that’s on books but when it comes to upholding them, what are y’all doing?”, said Jackson.
Councilor Tiffany Moore told Jackson that she empathizes with him and the upkeep of his neighbors’ yard. Moore said she agrees that the city and citizens should work together to create a standard in expectations for the rental properties within the city. Moore said it is a frustrating problem, but the council is willing to have a work session to discuss solutions to help eliminate the problem.
Mayor Scott said he agrees with Jackson that the area is not attractive.
“Our department and our workers work around the clock, just to try to keep certain areas clean.”, said Scott. “We get a lot of calls in. We can clean up an entire street and the next week, people are back throwing stuff out their windows, so we are getting stuff even when it’s not in our jurisdiction. We are getting stuff that the county is supposed to pick up, we are getting stuff that Waste Management is not getting, so our employees are stretching in trying to keep up with what’s going on”.
Mayor Scott said that they are not ignoring Jackson complaints, but they are working with a list that was once four pages long and a staff of 16 people between two of the city’s departments, Horticulture and the Public Works dealing with the trash pickup and one truck to pick items and brush debris.
Jackson said he would like to see his neighborhood improve and said he has been a resident of Center Point since 1995.
Items approved on the consent agenda:
- Resolution No.2022-6 Declaring Used Trucks Surplus
- This resolution was approved by the council to declare the city’s out-of-service trucks as surplus to be auctioned off.
- Resolution No.2022-7 Authorizing the solicitation of bids for garbage service
- This resolution was approved by the council to authorize different garbage service providers to submit bids to explain their reasoning of how they can effectively benefit the city with trash pickup.
- Resolution No.2022-9 Awarding the Photo Traffic Program
- This resolution was approved by the council to award Novoa Global, a photo traffic programming camera as the city’s newest traffic camera provider.
- Resolution No. 2022- 8 Authorizing Travel Advance for Employees
- This resolution was approved by the council authorizing a travel advance for selected employees to attend an upcoming Horticulture training. The amount of the travel advance is $897.04.
Other Business
Battalion Chief Brad Appleton of the Center Point Fire Department retired on Monday, Jan 31. Chief Appleton’s final call can be listened to on the Center Point Fire District Facebook Page.