CHAMOIS — Area residents aired their grievances about the lack of ordinance enforcement in the city limits to Chamois aldermen on Wednesday, Feb. 20.

Resident Janice Sehnert was the most vocal and asked if City Marshal Riley Davis was still working for the city.

Sehnert also asked why the nuisance ordinance was not being enforced.

“I’ve read through it and read through it,” Sehnert said. “How can we enforce it or start giving tickets out to the landlords that allow their tenants to put washers, dryers, refrigerators, stoves, and all their other appliances in the yard? How can we enforce the way people just throw their furniture into the yard? There are tires in the yard. It’s the same old thing I’ve been complaining about for the seven years I’ve been here.”

Sehnert explained that she is not asking people to spend money fixing up their houses.

“It is just ridiculous to see all the trash in people’s yards,” Sehnert said.

She noted that since she cannot walk very well, she has to pay someone to clean the trash out of her yard that blows in from other properties.

“And the dogs — I thought we had a leash ordinance,” Sehnert said. “I was in my car coming back from the doctor’s office and this pit bull was in my yard with two white dogs that are always running around. I don’t know who they belong to, but I didn’t know how I was going to get into my house. They probably just wanted to play, but you just don’t know what they are going to do. Who do we need to talk to? Is there an animal catcher?”

Mayor Marie Slusser explained that the city does not have an animal control officer and that Riley needed to complete all his paperwork to issue citations for violations of city ordinances.

“There is a lengthy process to get Riley on,” Slusser explained. “We can’t just hire him, pay him, and (have) him issue the tickets.”

Slusser explained that while Lewis has been hired by aldermen, he has only been in the city on a limited basis while the city sets up all of the paperwork. Though he has been sworn in by the Osage County Sheriff’s Office, Lewis cannot write tickets to enforce any of the ordinances until after March 31.

“Once we get this process going, I can go around to everyone and be like, ‘you need to clean it up, or you’re going to get a ticket,’” Lewis explained.

Sehnert said she thought Riley had done a good job cleaning up Gasconade.

Slusser offered to speak personally to a property owner whose house was a problem. “If you want to call me, I can possibly go talk to some of the residents to see if they can start cleaning up their stuff on their own,” she added.

Sehnert also complained that residents were leaving trash cans in the street, making it difficult for people to drive through without hitting them. She asked if there was a standard rule regarding where trash cans needed to be placed to be picked up by Republic Services.

“I don’t think so,” Slusser said.

“My neighbor’s cans are always out in the street; if we needed an ambulance or the fire department, they wouldn’t be able to get down my street,” Sehnert said. “I had to get out of my car to get the trash cans out of the road just so I could drive by.

“It’s just a shame no one wants to take pride in where they live,” Sehnert continued. “I know people would give anything if we would fix up our town and they would bring businesses down here. I just want someone to care.”

“That’s the process we’re going through currently,” Slusser said. “We will start enforcing our ordinances.”

“Once we get these ordinances in place and stuff, I can do something about it,” Lewis said.

“We will make sure people are cleaning up their yards, and if there is an issue, we’ll give them a ticket,” Slusser said.

“Is there a warning process?” property owner Scotty Dudenhoeffer asked.

“I’ll assess the situation and see,” Lewis said.

“I think you should ticket the landlords because it’s their property,” Sehnert said. “They should be the ones fined if they are not controlling their renters.”

“Ultimately, it is the person renting the property that is responsible; you can’t put all this on the landlord,” Slusser said. “They can’t be down here checking on their properties all the time.”

“I don’t think any landlord wants their property trashed,” said Dudenhoeffer. “So, to penalize them would be unfair. There is only so much a landlord can do.”

Sehnert insisted that, at the very least, the landlord should be notified if their rental property is subject to an ordinance violation. She continued to complain about different properties within the city limits.

Aldermen talked about area residents who collect appliances and other metal trash items that they take to sell. They could come to pick up some of the items. Lewis noted that Gasconade had a dumpster for a city residential clean-up once a year.

“We used to do that every year, but the dumpster had to be here overnight, and people would just throw trash all around it,” Alderman Jim Wright said. “Unless we keep someone on guard to keep people out of it through the night, they’ll pile it all the way around.”

Wright added he would like to see the dumpster brought back, even if he needs to stand guard over it overnight.

“We’re going to be taking care of all of this as soon as the process goes through,” Slusser said. “We can get Riley to start enforcing the ordinances. That’s our goal and that’s what we plan to do.”

Several residents asked if they could have copies of the city’s current ordinances.

“There are over 600 ordinances if you want them all,” City Clerk Megan Birmingham said, noting the city charges $.10 per page for any copies and that the ordinances are not currently in a digital format.

Birmingham noted that some of the major ordinances are on hand, and she is working on making all of them more available and in digital format.

Dudenhoeffer asked what the timeline was for Lewis to start writing tickets.

“We’re going through all of the little details of it and hope to have everything taken care of by the end of March,” Slusser said.

“Are you going to announce that to the public?” Dudenhoeffer asked.

“Everyone is already aware, but we could put something out on Facebook or add something to the water bills that we are enforcing ordinances,” Slusser said.

“Maybe we can prioritize dealing with the dogs or the trash,” Alderman Cole Schaben suggested.

“If there are 600 ordinances, you’re going to run into some issues because you should enforce all of them,” said Dudenhoeffer.

“Which is what we plan to do but we’re going to try to clean up the town first, “Slusser said.

Residents also asked if sidewalks were slated to be repaired soon.

“Not right now,” Slusser said. “We’re working on the water project, and we only can get one grant at a time. As soon as the water project is completed, we’ll move on to street repairs.”

Residents complained about the state of the sidewalks and the maintenance of the ditches along the streets.

Slusser explained that the ditches along the highways are the responsibility of the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), and the city is only responsible for the ditches along the city streets. City Utility Employee Mark Mehmert noted that if citizens were concerned about particular areas, they could contact him, and he would work with them.

Slusser presented aldermen with a 77-page traffic and motor vehicle code to be adopted at the meeting. She noted that adopting this ordinance and code was one of the necessary steps to finalize the city marshal’s ability to start writing tickets and assessing fines for residents violating the Chamois ordinances.

Slusser requested a motion for approval of the ordinance from the aldermen.

“I’m sure everyone is not going to take the time to read it right now, but I need a motion to approve this,” Slusser said.

A resident at the meeting asked if the ordinance and traffic code included stipulations about four-wheelers in city limits.

Wright said that the traffic code included rules requiring drivers of All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) to be 16 with a valid driver’s license.

Unterrified Democrat Reporter Theresa Brandt, while quickly scanning the traffic code, found stipulations in the document restricting ATV use on city streets.

“I don’t even know what page you are on,” Slusser said.

Brandt read from page 50 of the proposed city Traffic Code Division 4, Section 1-623: “No person shall operate an all-terrain vehicle upon the streets and highways of the city, except all-terrain vehicles owned and operated by a government entity for official use, operated for agricultural purposes.”

“That’s going to really stir up a hornet’s nest,” Wright said.

Slusser read further into the code, noting that there was also a line that allowed ATVs to be operated within the city limits if they were registered with the city. Brandt asked if those two separate lines seemed contradictory.

“Linn and Osage County passed some pretty good stuff recently about ATVs and UTVs,” Dudenhoeffer said. “Maybe you should look into their ordinances.”

“We need to get this passed so we can move on with Riley,” Slusser said.

“Here is what we passed in Gasconade about eight or nine years ago,” Lewis said, passing out a copy of the Gasconade ordinance referencing the use of off-road vehicles within the city limits. “It does a pretty good job.”

“We’re going to have to table this,” Slusser said as she read over the ordinance from Gasconade. “Just reading over this, I like how this reads better.”

“This is what (City Attorney David) Bandre sent us,” Birmingham said.

Wright suggested removing the portion of the proposed traffic code referencing off-road vehicles and inserting the ordinance from Gasconade.

Birmingham read from Bandre’s email, “This is covering everything we could write tickets for, and it’s also citing state statutes.”

“The one I just gave you is also off the state statutes, and it’s been working really well for us,” Lewis said.

Slusser questioned whether the sections relating to off-road vehicles could just be replaced with the ordinance wording from Gasconade, as Wright suggested so that aldermen could adopt the ordinance and traffic code at the meeting that evening.

“What Megan is saying is that this is what Bandre sent over that we could write tickets for,” said Alderman Cheyanna Wolfe. “We get to choose what we can write the tickets for but this covers everything.”

Brandt pointed out that several parts of the traffic code seemed to contradict each other.

Birmingham repeated that the city’s attorney wrote the traffic code.

“But it seems contradictory,” Brandt said. “Does Riley get to decide what parts of the traffic code he wants to enforce?”

Alderman noted the ordinance and traffic code could be passed and amended later.

“Do we have to go by all these codes, or can we pick and choose what we enforce?” Wolfe asked.

Slusser noted that she thought it was best to read through the traffic code before it was passed, possibly integrate the Gasconade ordinance into it, and come back to it at a later meeting.

“I don’t think in the 30 minutes we sat here we have thoroughly went through it,” Slusser said. “We’ll table it until later.”

Slusser also presented Ordinance #661, which would adopt occupancy limits for the city of Chamois.

“This would apply to renters and people who own their own homes,” Slusser said.

She immediately called for a motion to approve the ordinance.

The ordinance states, “There is a need for occupancy limits for all tenancies within the city of Chamois to prevent overcrowding, to allow for the safety of tenants in the city, to protect the rights of neighboring property owners and tenants, and to ensure proper housing conditions.”

The maximum number of people allowed per house or unit would be calculated by taking each bedroom multiplied by two and then adding one additional resident to the total number of people allowed. Within the ordinance, a bedroom is defined as “a room with a minimum of 70 square feet, with a ceiling height of seven feet, contains heating and cooling elements, and are required to have a least two means of ingress and egress by either a door or window”.

“What happens if you are a growing family and can’t afford a bigger house and you keep having babies?” Dudenhoeffer asked.

“I understand that,” Slusser said. “If you can’t afford it, then it’s better than living on the street, but we’re adopting this ordinance so the fire department knows how many people are in a house or apartment. If the apartments catch on fire, do we know how many people are inside there?”

“Can you kick people out of their homes?” Dudenhoeffer asked.

“No, we are not kicking people out of their homes,” Slusser said. “We’re not wanting to put anyone out of their homes. What we are wanting to do is make sure the fire department or the police department know how many people are living in a residence if there is a problem.”

“But you are going to fine people $500 per day,” Brandt said, reading through the ordinance.

“Does it say there is a fine?” Slusser asked.

Brandt read from the ordinance, “Any person or entity found to be allowing occupancy of a greater number of persons than allowed … shall be subject to a fine of no more than $500 per day.”

“When I was growing up, we had a big family; if we’d lived in city limits, we would have been in violation of the ordinance,” Brandt said.

Dudenhoeffer said his parents would also not have been allowed to stay in their house.

“How can you fine someone for living in their own house?” Brandt asked.

Slusser quickly scanned through the ordinance and apologized to aldermen.

“I’m not wanting to ticket people,” Slusser said. “The only thing I’m concerned with is if something happens, the police, fire department, and emergency medical personnel need to know how many people are in the house in case of an emergency.”

The ordinance was tabled until a future meeting.