House again topic at city meeting

The owner of the old Neece house at Sixth and Bugbee told the Clarendon City Council last week that setbacks are keeping her from making progress on code violations.

More than six months ago, the city was beginning the condemnation process on the property but later granted Linda Lewis six months to rectify code concerns.

With time running out, Lewis signed in for public comment at the May 14 regular city meeting and said an infestation of bees and rainy weather were “a series of interesting things” that had stalled progress on the property.

Lewis said there had not been seven consecutive days without rain and that the country road she must travel down to dispose of debris from the house has been impassible because of the rain.

Lewis’ deadline to satisfy the code department was May 18, but she told city officials last week that she’s looking at the end of June to be able to finish.

The Lewis property wasn’t a specific agenda item last week, so the council did not address her directly. But Alderman Sandy Skelton pulled the Code Compliance Report from the city’s consent agenda in order to comment on the property.

“I’m getting frustrated with the whole thing,” Skelton said. “The debris has been there for three months, and it just started raining.”

City officials say Lewis’ property will be on the May 28 agenda.

In other city business, the board approved contracting with KSA Engineers to complete the city’s wastewater permit renewal application and to complete a preliminary engineering report for a possible USDA grant application.

The council heard a quarterly report for Greenbelt Water Authority from Clarendon representative Gary Campbell, who reminded the board that it is time to renegotiate the rate for which the city sells groundwater to Greenbelt.

The council also heard a quarterly investment report from City Secretary Machiel Covey, a quarterly Hotel Occupancy Tax expenditure report from the Clarendon Economic Development Corp., and also a quarterly Hotel Occupancy Tax expenditure report from the Clarendon Chamber of Commerce.

City Administrator David Dockery reported that the citywide cleanup was progressing and seeing a great response. He also said that, due to the weather, the cleanup and the half-price dumping fees will be continued through this Friday, May 22.