by James Jordan, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington City Council wants to clean the city up, but they don’t want to take a heavy handed approach to get there.

The council heard from Winfield Environmental Inspector John Adams at a work session meeting Thursday and talked about various ideas to improve the city’s appearance.

Adams said he spends three hours per day looking around Winfield to find areas that need cleaning up. He said they are more proactive in their approach, and not complaint driven as many towns are. Adams said he tries to get a buy in from people, as opposed to forcing them to clean up property.

“Enforcement is the last resort,” Adams said. “It is not a money making thing. Our return on investment is about 20-25 percent.”

He said Winfield puts a door hanger note on people’s doors asking them to mow grass when it gets more than 12 inches tall. They have five days to comply, and if not, they will get a certified letter and they will have 30 days to get the situation taken care of. From there city of Winfield hires contractors to do the work and the homeowner gets the bill. It can be added to their taxes.

People have a right to request a meeting with city officials, and there a solution can be worked out.

Wellington City Manager Shane Shields said Wellington’s procedure is very similar, but at present Wellington does get the courts involved sooner.

Shields said he is more concerned about trash or rubbish in people’s yards.

Adams said the process in Winfield is much the same for trash as it is for grass being too high. He added that often properties are abandoned and property taxes are not being paid.

Winfield is considering starting a land bank as a way of taking over some properties and then being able to dispose of them.

The city of Winfield also works with Habitat for Humanity, helping them get properties to build houses on. Winfield also makes use of civic organizations and churches who do volunteer work on some properties.

Adams said about 80 percent of people respond to the door hanger note on the door, and fix up problems when asked to do so.

Adams said while law enforcement is an option, he has found it is better to get cooperation from people. The city also offers things like free compost, and they have dumpsters available every Saturday for disposing of big items. Winfield will also come and get things like couches to help people dispose of things instead of leaving them in their yard.

At one point Winfield had a problem with overgrown trees. Adams said they sent the word out if people would trim their trees, the city would pick up the limbs for them.

The city of Winfield spends about $65,000 per year on keeping the city clean. He said that while the corridors look good, there are problem areas just like there are in Wellington and other towns.

City councilmen liked the idea of working on relationships and getting the public to buy in to the idea of cleaning up the town and keeping it looking good.

Shields noted that the city of Wellington rescinded some ordinances in 2011, which are more similar to the things Winfield does.

One of those things was to allow city staff to take action without having to go through the process of bringing a resolution to the council for approval. It would speed up the process greatly. The council seemed to agree with that idea, and that idea may come back to the concil at some point.

Shields also said there were work sessions in October of 2015, and in March of 2016. There was supposed to be a review of the ordinances done then, but there is no record of that ever taking place.

Shields said some of the 2011 ordinances that were repealed were overly broad, but they did allow the city staff to take action on its own.

Wellington currently does not have a code official, though they are going over applications and could hire a new one soon.

They want to get someone who can work with the public well and build relationships, as opposed to just enforcing the law.

Public Works director Jeremy Jones said he would like for the staff to be able to take action without having to come to the council each time for approval. The code official could bring it to the staff, who could consider what needs to be done, and they could also consult the city attorney and the city manager. That would have more than one person looking at each situation, and would be much faster and more efficient than bringing it to the council each time.

Council member Kip Etter suggested finding a way to reward people for their efforts, taking a more positive approach than just making up more rules. He said there could be something like a yard of the month program.

He said the city itself also needs to do its part. He had photos of city property that was in need of being cleaned up, and he said the city should set the example.

Mayor Shelley Hansel agreed and said she favored going back to some of those ordinances that were in effect in 2011, and she favored letting the staff make decisions by itself.

Etter also suggested the city look into the idea of salvaging properties that have been condemned. When a property is to be demolished, the city could also let out bids to salvage operations who could get whatever is of value out of the property. That could be sold and used to help pay the cost of demolition.

The council is not planning on making any new laws, but seemed to have a sense of direction after the meeting. They may bring back some of the 2011 ordinances that were repealed, and they hope to work with people more to encourage them to clean up their property.

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