Hideout residents may soon see a solution to their construction problems. That is, issues around construction zones in particular.
Town leaders are exploring ways to ticket for construction code violations they often field complaints about. According to interim Hideout Mayor Ralph Severini, town leaders often see streams of complaints from residents who are concerned with violations such as incorrect parking and littering.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t sit here and I don’t get some complaint, starting from my own household,” Severini said during a Town Council meeting last week.
Hideout Attorney Polly McLean said the town’s public works staff has issued tickets. But McLean said she would rather have a part-time employee or a third-party issue tickets instead.
“In terms of the enforcement person,” McLean said. “They couldn’t arrest people or that type of thing.”
According to Severini, hiring a part-time employee might only be worth it if they issue one $500 ticket per day to offset the cost of paying that employee $30 to $50 per hour. He said Hideout officials also need a way to follow through on fines. At the moment, there is no address for where people fined can send payments on the summons booklets.
“So, it’s like a blank summons. Nobody’s going to pay attention to that.” Severini said.
Hideout leaders will continue discussing options in upcoming meetings. The first conversation is to ensure that employing an enforcement officer might be feasible.
“We need to do something, we need to try it. If it’s successful, we keep going. If it’s not successful, then we try another strategy,” McLean said.
Town Councilor Jonathan Gunn said that, while he agrees that the town needs to address the violations, he is not sure that there will be much of a need after individuals realize fines are being issued.
“Once you do the initial round of enforcement … I’m not sure what the demand for these services will be,” Gunn said. “We need to at least initiate something to get people to understand that the rules do mean something.”