Resident complains of drainage

Published 12:36 am Tuesday, December 2, 2008

One Dove Ridge resident presented her case to the Pearl River County Board of Supervisors at their Monday morning meeting concerning alleged destruction to her property by her neighbor’s actions.

While the action conducted by her neighbor did not directly effect the condition of her property, Tammy Parks said when that neighbor removed dirt from the county right of way to put in his own yard, the drainage in her and others’ yards was adversely affected.

The offense took place many months ago, where Parks said her neighbors rented a Bobcat and dug dirt from in front of her land and a neighbor’s land on the county right of way. Ever since the dirt was removed from the county right of way, drainage in the area hasn’t been the same, Parks said.

Sign up for our daily email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

“We’ve had to bring out dirt, sand and gravel and put it in front of our property,” Parks said.

Parks, the other affected neighbor and Board Attorney Joe Montgomery stepped into the back room to discuss the matter in detail for a minute and when they came out, Parks did not seem satisfied with the outcome. She declared she would attend every board meeting until she got some form of restitution. Montgomery said that the county would not be able to give her any monetary restitution, but the county will look into the matter and see what can be done.

District V Supervisor Sandy Kane Smith said he would go out to the property and see what can be done in the way of depositing more dirt on the right of way to fix the problem.

A public hearing was held at the meeting concerning unkempt properties. Planning and Development Director Ed Pinero Jr. said 15 letters were mailed prior to the meeting to notify landowners that their property was in need of some maintenance. So far, 12 of those properties have been cleaned up. The meeting covered the remaining three. Only one property owner, Louis Krause, showed up at the meeting to express his intent to clean up.

Apparently, Krause has some vehicles parked on an unofficially closed road next to his home. He said he restores old vehicles and that is why the vehicles are there, but he did say that they all run. District III Supervisor Hudson Holliday said the problem is not that the cars are there, but that they are within sight. He said he believes in the mindset of “live and let live.”

“You could go and live with the gophers, I don’t care,” Holliday said.

Holliday asked Krause to move the vehicles to a location on his property that is out of sight. Since Krause made an appearance at the meeting and expressed willingness to work with the county to clean up his property, Holliday recommended the board give Krause 90 days to fix the problem. The two property owners who did not appear at the public hearing had their properties deemed a public nuisance by the board. They have 30 days to fix the problem themselves or the county will take action, Montgomery said.

Pinero said that in the past three months the county-wide clean up effort has resulted in 29 dilapidated structures being removed voluntarily.

The board went into executive session to discuss pending litigation concerning the jail and a county road. No action was taken on the matters when they came out of executive session, County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin said.

In other business the board;

— Approved personnel changes in the Sheriff’s Department.

— Agreed to pay retainage to Professional Mass Appraisal for the recent county wide property appraisal.

— Authorized a second payment to Ace Contractors for installation of backup generators.

— Acknowledged proof of publication of a $3.5 million Mississippi General Obligation Road and Bridge bond that will be used to attempt to pave the remaining 77 miles of county owned dirt roads.

The next board meeting will be at 9 a.m. Dec. 8.