Abandoned houses top city commission agenda

File photo One of the items before the commission is a request by the city police department to donate two 2000 Ford Crown Victoria police vehicles to the New Mexico Junior College Police Academy in Hobbs.

On a light agenda for today’s meeting of the Clovis city commission, the topic of boarding up abandoned houses will be front and center.

In the four items for the adoption of resolutions and ordinances, three involve the city securing houses by sealing potential entrances.

One house on Cypress, one on Mitchell and another on Thornton, if approved by commissioners, will be boarded up by city employees.

Clovis Director of Building Safety Pete Wilt said that the amount of houses being “secured,” the language used in the resolutions, have increased since the city stopped having the tasks bid upon by outside companies earlier this year.

The city doesn’t own any of the properties in question. But the city does implement a lien if the owners don’t reimburse the money spent to secure the houses.

“We’ve notified the owners that the doors and windows need to be secured, in order to keep vagrants out,” Wilt said.

The meeting begins at the North annex of Clovis-Carver Public Library on Main, beginning at 5:15 p.m..

Other items before the commission will include a request by the city police department to donate two 2000 Ford Crown Victoria police vehicles to the New Mexico Junior College Police Academy in Hobbs.

Clovis Police Chief Steve Sanders said the vehicles were due to be auctioned. But he was notified of the need for cars at the academy and that led to the donation offer.

“It’s the academy that we currently use for our certification program,” Sanders said. “So our police force will benefit from the donation.”