Council discusses junk car issue

PRESCOTT – Short agendas do not  short meetings make.

The April meeting of the Prescott City Council had no city business on its agenda, yet it took more than 40 minutes to get through the meeting. This is because members of the council talked about the problem of junk cars in town, going over the same topics repeatedly. Councilman Ivory Curry agreed it’s a problem, but said the solution should be fair to everyone and legal.

Mary Godwin, executive director of the Prescott-Nevada County Economic Development Office, broached the subject saying she’d been taking pictures around town as requested by the council. She reminded the panel of the 2019 ordinance the council passed concerning junked cars, saying it only deals with those vehicles sitting in yards for 30 days or more. She pointed out a lot of homes have junk cars behind the residence and asked for direction on what the council wants to do to deal with this problem.

City Attorney James Stayton added the current ordinance doesn’t provide for fines for those not cooperating and there’s no way to take offenders to court. The ordinance, he continued, provides for towing and storage of junked vehicles and they can be sold if the owner doesn’t pay the towing and storage fees. The funds from the sale would be used to pay towing and storage with the rest going to the vehicle’s owner.

Godwin said before her office can start sending letters to those with junk cars  in their yards, she needs direction as to the consequences if they don’t comply.

Curry suggested some people would just move the cars behind their house and move them back later.

Howard Austin said there needs to be a fine and a way to collect it.

This is how the conversation went for the rest of the meeting. In the end, the decision was to have Stayton research what surrounding communities are doing and come up with an  ordinance to deal with junk cars.

Prior to the junk car discussion, Godwin told the council about the last two leadership meetings, skills and cultural diversity, saying the class is going well this year. She informed the council the sales tax took a jump in March, adding there will be a resolution for planning and zoning at the May meeting.