GIRARDVILLE - The borough council adopted a Quality of Life ordinance in December and according to Mayor Edward Burns, its enforcement is beginning to show results.
Burns gave a report during Thursday's council meeting, stating that a second round of tickets will soon be issued on problem properties.
"Within the last week and a half, we gave out 22 tickets," Burns said. "This Quality of Life ordinance is working. It's a no-nonsense ordinance. There is so much more that we can do if a person doesn't want to take care of his property."
Burns said to the public, "If anybody has any complaints and you see something that I don't see, get in touch with me."
A Quality of Life ordinance addresses problems that degrade the physical appearance of a community, which in turn reduces business and tax revenue and inhibits economic development, and negatively impacts the quality of life and community pride of the citizens.
Similar ordinances have been adopted in Shenandoah, Mahanoy City, Pottsville, Hazleton, West Hazleton and Reading. The ordinance allows the borough code enforcement officer or any public borough officer to issue tickets when they see certain code violations, such as accumulation of rubbish, animal feces, high weeds, indoor appliances and furniture outside on the porch or sidewalk, and the failure to remove snow and ice from sidewalks.
The Girardville ordinance was modeled after those adopted in Mahanoy City and Shenandoah.
During the public portion, resident Pete Oswald said some improvement can be seen in the borough. Oswald traveled along the borough streets to see what has been done and said, "I can see the difference."
"There is so much we can do with this Quality of Life ordinance," Burns said. "This is a very good ordinance."
After the meeting, Burns said the 22 tickets were delivered in different ways.
"The 22 tickets that have been filed have either been posted on their doors if they live at the property or they are sent by certified mail," Burns said. "There is a lot of work involved. A lot."
Burns opened a folder and showed the next 15 tickets that will be filed. His first step is to identify the owner, which is done using the Schuylkill County Parcel Locator. Burns spends about two to three evenings a week working on the process. While Burns works during the day, he has a resident check the suspect properties, which is then followed up by Burns.
"If I deem them ticketable, I write the tickets," Burns said. "The hard ones are the property owners who are from out of town. It seems to be working but the important part is the follow-up. You just can't give a ticket and then forget about it."