Nearly 50 attend litter, lakeshore meeting

A combined public meeting at the Troy Senior Citizens Center on Tuesday concerning two pending county ordinances drew 47 interested residents, but it was discussion on the litter proposal that dominated the two-plus hour gathering.

Clearly, there is a divide on the topic between homeowners who feel helpless by neighbors whose properties are laden with debris and those who say the new ordinance would be an infringement on personal rights because it is complaint-based.

Libby Commissioner Tony Berget presided the meeting that initially discussed lakeshore boundary lines for boat docks and then refereed the more heated discourse on the litter ordinance proposal, which is in its fourth revision as a result of the meeting Tuesday.

Almost from the outset, Berget said the proposal is but a compilation of existing state codes and county ordinances that seek to combine the previous into one document for ease of prosecution by Lincoln County Attorney Bernie Cassidy. Cassidy was not present at the meeting.

“Clearly, we do not want this litter ordinance,” said Eureka-area resident Steve Curtiss. “We do not need new laws just to make Bernie’s job easier.”

Greg Johnson of Fortine agreed with Curtiss, saying laws already exist, so the proposed ordinance is unnecessary.

“We just don’t need another law,” Johnson said.

Trent Oelberg, a proponent of the litter ordinance, presented Berget and Eureka Commissioner Mike Cole with a petition containing 289 signatures of residents who favor the proposal.

After presenting the petition, Oelberg said he and others feel frustrated by neighbors who don’t care about the appearance or are unwilling to clean up their properties.

“I’m speaking to you and you,” Oelberg said holding a photocopy of the front yard of a home littered with debris. “How would you feel if you walked out your home and this is what you saw every day?”

Environmental Health Director Kathi Hooper attended the meeting and provided copies of the redrafted ordinance with the latest revisions from the county meeting Jan. 8.

Hooper, who was taking notes, attempted to allay residents’ concerns that the ordinance would not allow for an overreaching county government to use the ordinance to impose undue restrictions.

“There are about 12 properties that are examples of community decay that we want to address,” Hooper said. She said the only change in the ordinance is raising the fine up to $200.

“We realize it’s taken many of these properties years to get to this condition,” Hooper said. “So, it’s going to take some time to get them cleaned up. If they work with us and present a plan for cleanup, we’ll give them time to complete it. This is about making properties health-compliant. It’s not a money-maker for the county.”

At the urging of Troy-area resident Rhoda Cargill, Hooper said she would work to better define the description of viewing from a public roadway. The proposed ordinance states a public road as “any highway, street, road, or alley available for use by the general population.”

Hooper also said she would amend the proposal currently as written to accommodate the useful function of an old camper utilized by Bob Ingenice of Libby for a chicken coop.

As currently written, the proposed ordinance states “discarded, broken or non-functioning appliances, implements, campers, mobile homes, machinery, fixtures or any compound parts thereof, that are serving no apparent purpose and cannot or will not be made to function in their original intended capacity within one-year’s time” would be in violation.

It is Ingenice’s belief that the camper, while not being used for its original intent, still is performing a useful purpose in the sense that it is a chicken coop, and therefore still is viable.

Hooper agreed to modify the definition by removing the word “original” from the phrase “original intended capacity.”

The ordinance attempts to address community decay, which it describes is “a situation in which a person allows litter to accumulate resulting in conditions that are injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses or obstructive to the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property in Lincoln County.”

Litter is defined as “uncontained or openly stored materials which may be classed as trash, debris, rubbish, refuse, garbage or junk, including, but not limited to, any worn out, cast off or discarded article or material which is ready for destruction or has been collected or stored as recyclable or salvage for conversion to some other use or for reduction into components, old scrap brass, rope, rags, batteries, paper, tires cardboard, newspapers, plastic, tin cans, wood, concrete, glass, crockery, rubber, aluminum, iron, wire, steel and other old scrap ferrous or non-ferrous materials; dead domestic animals; animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food that is not incorporated into a properly maintained compost pile system; discarded, broken or unstable furniture, fencing or building materials; junk vehicles as defined by state codes; as well as the appliance, implements, campers et al paragraph mentioned above.

The penalty for a violation shall constitute a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $200 per violation. A violation of the ordinance may not be punishment by imprisonment. Each day of the violation exists may be a separately punishable offense. Hooper said the intent of the fine was not on the individual homeowner, but is sought because, at times, Environmental Health employees are called, for instance, to a green-box site. At times, people leave large amounts of debris on the ground. She said it takes her employees, sometimes, many hours of county payroll to clean up the debris.

Residents have until Feb. 6 to comment on the proposal. Commissioners are expected to take the issue up for a vote during their Feb. 12 meeting.