Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Property owners are responsible for the weeds and grasses growing in the gap between the concrete curbing and street asphalt in Clovis.
Who is supposed to take care of the weeds and grasses growing in the gap between the concrete curbing and street asphalt in Clovis?
"That's the street-adjacent property owner's responsibility," Pete Wilt said. Wilt is head of Clovis' Building Safety Department, the department in charge of code enforcement in the city.
"Adjacent property owners are responsible for cutting grasses and weeds to the halfway point on city streets and alleys," Wilt said.
Earlier this year, in April, then-Building Safety Director Daron Roach told city commissioners almost 5,000 citations were issued in 2022 to city residents for code violations. That number was more than four times the citations issued in 2021.
And so vigorous enforcement is needed, said Roach, who has since taken an unrelated job with the Curry County Sheriff's Office.
Roach said in April the city will be enforcing the violations according to procedures that are "already on the books."
In 2020 1,063 cases were opened by code officers in Clovis.
"In 2022 the number of opened cases was up to 4,720," Roach said. "We're talking about weed violations, debris, abandoned vehicles, sign violations, too many yard sales in a year, whatever is in violation of the city code."
The process used to be a citation for a violation would be left on a resident's door. If the violation took place in a vacant lot, a sign with the violation would be posted and a letter would be sent to the property owner informing of the violation.
"After five days we used to send a second letter notifying the property owner of the violation," Roach said. "We won't be doing that anymore. If we return to the property after five days and the violation has not been corrected, we will be notifying municipal court and the property owner may find themselves summoned before the municipal judge facing fines, fees and possible jail time."
Additionally if the property owner does not correct the situation a city crew may be sent in to correct the situation and a fee will be assessed for the work.
Regarding violations this summer, Wilt said, "We've been busy."
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