Over 18 abandoned vehicles were discovered located on this property. The City of Millen is giving notice to city residents – clean up your properties, remove junk vehicles and appliances and pen up your animals - or face the consequences, which could be a citation and an appearance in City Municipal Court.

“We have already begun a concentrated effort to enforce all city codes,” said City Manager Lamar Faircloth. “If we are going to attract industry and other commercial interests to our community, then we have got to make the city look presentable, but it is not just about looks.”

Tracey Herrington, code enforcement officer/clerk of municipal court, agrees.

“It is not just about cutting your grass or putting a fresh coat of paint on your house. We have vagrants living in abandoned and unoccupied houses. The Millen Police Department has already picked up several on warrants. We have junk vehicles and appliances sitting around on properties. What happens if a child gets in one and can’t get out? This is a tragedy waiting to happen. Then, there are the health concerns from rodents that are attracted to these properties,” she said.

This house located on College Avenue shows remarkable improvement once the owner complied with requests from the City of Millen to clean up the property. (Photos contributed) Herrington outlined city procedures for getting property owners to comply with city codes. Upon receiving a complaint, Code Enforcement Officer Robert Reeves Jr. visits the property, takes photos and builds a case file. The owner of the property is then notified of the complaint and is given a certain number of days to clean up the property.

If the owner complies, Reeves revisits the property, takes more photos and closes the case file.

If, however, the owner refuses to address the issue, a hearing is scheduled between the property owner and city code enforcement officers in an attempt to resolve the matter. If the case ends up going to Municipal Court, the property owner could be fined up to $1,000.

“The judge could also rule that city employees clean up the property with a bill for their work being sent to the owner. If the owner refuses to pay the bill, we will attach it to their property taxes. If the owner still refuses to pay, we can sell the property at public auction, and we will,” said Faircloth.

While the city is taking a tough stand on code enforcement, officials are also willing to work with property owners, but some type of improvement must be seen. Reeves noted that most city residents have nothing to worry about.

“We can tell if the grass is being cut once a month or once every six months,” he said. “We have also given a lot of cour- tesy calls to property owners, before it gets to the point where we receive complaints.”

Clay Boulineau, public works director/animal control officer, noted that dealing with animals “running at large” is a constant, ongoing problem for the city.

“We’re not getting any more complaints than usual. We just want city residents to know that they need to have their animals restrained. There is a $25 fee if we pick up your animal, plus a $5 fee for every day we feed it,” he said. “This has to be paid before the animal is released to its owner.”

Residents should also be aware that only dogs, cats and certain birds may be kept within the city and inoculation for rabies is required. No animals are permitted to “run at large.”

Herrington noted that currently, the city has 100+ known infractions of city codes, with 50 of them occurring in just a small section of the city.

“This has just gone on too long, and we are going to do something about it,” said Manager Faircloth.

Residents and property owners are encouraged to contact Reeves at 982-6116 if they have questions concerning code enforcement.