March City Council Message
By: Vice-Mayor Ken Suer, Contact this Councilmember
Return to City Council Listing
HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, MONTGOMERY!
High, noxious weeds. Graffiti. Inoperable junk cars. Twelve inch high grass. Gutters and drainpipes falling off. Peeling paint. Rusted out appliances on the front porch. Does this sound like Montgomery to you? Of course not. However, in many communities choice examples of all of these unsightly items can easily be found and are often on display for a long time.
One of the things that enables Montgomery to thrive as a premier community is the fine appearance of the City as a whole. A person coming to Montgomery quickly sees that they have entered an area where the residents and business owners take pride in the way things look. A typical residential street features attractive houses on well-maintained lots. Things are repaired and painted. Landscaping is kept up. The grass is cut on a regular basis. Trash gets donated to Rumpke - not used to decorate the property. In the business community, the same type of situation exists. Business owners know they are operating in an area where a sharp appearance is necessary for success with the type of customers they encounter. Even the occasional vacant storefront looks pretty good - no boarded up windows and rubble and litter strewn lots here!
What if you, as a Montgomery resident, see a home or business where maintenance problems exist? What can you do? First, everyone should be aware that Montgomery has a Property Maintenance Code. Our City website - www.MontgomeryOhio.org - will enable you to find out about property maintenance standards by reviewing Title IX Chapter 93 of the General Regulations. The "Action Line" item on the opening page of the website takes you to a process to file a report on-line. You can also call Jesse Bundy at 792-8356 or Tracy Roblero at 792-8312 and just give them your information. If you do not want to furnish them with your name, you don't have to.
Unlike a lot of communities, Montgomery takes tips we get seriously - and our people DO look into the matter. What normally happens with Code violations? The first step is a conversation - Jesse or Tracy talk to the resident or business owner and try to resolve the issue. If this doesn't work - warning letters and eventually a citation to court may follow. In some cases the City may deal with the nuisance itself and arrange to have a lien placed on the property to cover the expense of remediation. Keep in mind that these procedures may take quite some time because of the legal steps required to ensure due process for all citizens.
At the other end of the spectrum, Montgomery has residents and businesses who not only just maintain their properties, they go above and beyond with their efforts to improve appearance. Every year the City presents "Beautification Awards" to recognize superior efforts to enhance the community. Many volunteers get involved every spring with the "Great American Clean-Up" and with planting thousands of flowers in numerous beds throughout the heart of the City. Our Beautification Commission works tirelessly to make the City an exceedingly attractive place.
Any problem property in Montgomery is a problem property for all ten-thousand of us. We live here for a reason - if we did not care about our property values we could be living in any number of places where "anything goes and no one cares". As we "march into spring" I would encourage everyone to look around and be thankful for what we have. . . and resolve to do what it takes to preserve it.