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 Tupelo
 Code of Ordinances
 Chapter 13. HEALTH AND SANITATION
 Article II. GRASS AND WEEDS

  § 13-18. Hearing; penalty.  

Latest version.

  • The Tupelo City Council shall conduct a hearing at a regular or special meeting to determine if a parcel of land is a menace to the public health and safety of the community. The property owner may be present and may present witnesses or evidence at such hearing.

    If the Tupelo City Council determines, based on the facts and evidence presented at the hearing, that the property is a menace to the public health and safety of the community, the owner will be given ten (10) days in which to mow and/or clean the property.

    In the event the owner refuses to mow or clean the property within ten (10) days as ordered by the city council, the city may proceed to mow and/or clean the property. thereafter, the city council may, at its next regular meeting, by resolution, adjudicate the actual cost of cleaning the property and may impose a penalty of five hundred dollars ($500.00) or fifty percent (50) of such actual cost, whichever is more.

    The cost and penalty may become a civil debt against the property owner, or, at the option of the city council, an assessment against the property. The cost assessed against the property means the cost to the city of using its own employees to do the work or the cost to the city of any contract executed by the city to have the work done.

    The action herein authorized shall not be undertaken against any one (1) parcel of property more than five (5) times in any one (1) calendar year and the expense of cleaning said property shall not exceed an aggregate amount of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) per year, or the fair market value of the property subsequent to cleaning, whichever is less.

    If it is determined by the city council that it is necessary to clean a parcel of land more than once in one (1) calendar year, then the city may clean such property provided notice is given to the property owner in the same manner provided in section 13-17 of this article.

(Ord. of 6-3-03, § 2; Ord. of 11-1-16(1))

Editor's note

Ord. of 6-3-03, § 2, amended § 13-18 in its entirety. Formerly, said section pertained to city may mow at owner's expense upon failure of owner to comply with notice.