Health department to clean up run-down properties
The Boone County Commission ordered five Columbia property owners clean up their yards Tuesday to avoid violating county health codes.
Fred Parry, the Boone County District I Commissioner said, “Quite often during the course of the year we will have to do nuisance abatements where we go into a property and we remove cars that no longer work we remove trash, we’ll cut grass, anything that can post a health risk to the Boone County community.”
The city of Columbia, county and the city-county health department work together to clean up properties that are not up to standards, including those with overgrown grass, trash in the front yard or visually displeasing objects surrounding the house.
Kimberly Gambill, a Boone County resident said, “It’s just a nuisance, there’s all kinds of wild animals over there, it just needs to be taken care of.”
Parry said the process typically begins with a complaint from a neighbor.
“It basically boils down to life safety, I think that often times these nuisance properties create a life safety issue for not only the residents living in that home but also the people living next door, adjacent to those homes,” Parry said.
Officials say the county sends the people who are violating health ordinances several notices through the mail to correct the problem on their own. If the violations are not fixed, the property can be deemed forfeited and the county will have the property abated and then auctioned off.
Parry said the Boone County commission is working with the state legislature to plan new rental property standards for the county.
KMIZ
