Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

VALLEY — A Valley couple avoided having their yard declared a public nuisance Monday evening but have been given 14 days to clean it up or the city will clean it up for them. That would mean the city doing it their way and then sending a bill for the clean up cost.

The couple, Miguel and Kimberly M. Llorens in Shawmut, were present Monday. When Mr. Llorens said that he was unfamiliar with these procedures and didn’t know what they were supposed to do, Mayor Leonard Riley snapped back at him,

“I’ve been looking at your yard for five or six years now,” Riley said. “You have had that long to clean it up.”

The action item had been put on the consent agenda.

Had it not been pulled and had been on the list of approved items, the Public Works Department could have gone to that residence as early as Tuesday to start cleaning up the yard.

Council Member Jim Jones asked for it to be pulled and acted on separately.

Jones then suggested giving them 14 days to do it on their own.

If not done satisfactorily, the council could authorize action at the March 23 meeting.

Council Member Jim Clark, who represents the Shawmut mill village area on the council, said that he had gotten many calls from his constituents on this issue and preferred immediate action but went along with the two-week delay.

Planning and Development Director Travis Carter told the council that he had been asking Llorens to clean up his yard and that he had shown some cooperation on this by cleaning up the front yard.

Carter took photos of the yard on Feb. 14 and displayed them on PowerPoint at Monday’s meeting. The photos displayed lots of junk, including fire extinguishers lying on the ground.

Snowden finished reading the proposed resolution. It was motioned, seconded and unanimously approved.

“You have 14 days to clean it up,” Riley told Mr. Llorens.

“If you don’t do it by then, the city will do it and put a lien on the property.”

The action was approved in a 5-2 roll call vote.

Clark and Council Member Randall Maddux voted no, preferring to take immediate action to clean up the yard.