Barrow Journal

The Statham City Council basically agreed with a resident who complained about lax enforcement of city code Tuesday night.
Council member Perry Barton emphasized the city should check every two weeks until action is taken to clean up property in Lakewood Village, which is off Jefferson Street and up the hill from Bear Creek Middle School.
He said the city needs a “tickler” to check the area every two weeks.
George Warzecha, who lives in the subdivision, said he sent the city three letters about a lot that is “trashed” with material and weeds.
“We never got answers to our questions,” he said.
Warzecha complained about a lack of response from the city.
“Nothing was done,” he said more than once about the letter he wrote. “We got nothing, absolutely nothing.”
Warzecha also complained about a retention pond at the bottom of the subdivision that has not been inspected and has weeds.
Council member Eddie Jackson agreed with him and said part of the reason he ran for council was to clean up that and similar situations.
“I don’t see why it hasn’t been addressed properly,” Jackson said.
The city had a code enforcement officer, Randy Gordon, until the fall of 2017.
Gordon quit in a dispute with the city.
The council then hired a private contractor, Bureau Veritas, to do inspections for code violations and make recommendations about zoning requirements.
“This didn’t happen when we had Randy Gordon,” council member Dwight McCormic said.
Police chief Allan Johnston said his department writes citations about code violations when told to by city officials. He said the department is not allowed to make inspections.
City attorney Thomas Mitchell said the city has a process for dealing with violations, but it involves city court and is time consuming.
For more on Tuesday's meeting, see the Feb. 20 edition of the Barrow News-Journal.