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VALLEY — The City of Valley resurfaced half of 29th Boulevard last year and had planned to finish the rest of the street in the Shawmut community this year. The work project began several months ago but has been delayed by the problem of having an inordinate amount of groundwater on the street. An engineer has been consulted to recommend a solution to this unusual problem.

Now a ditch will be dug down the middle of the street and will be filled with rock. It will extend along a slope from Highway 29 to the bottom of the slope past the Nazarene Church where the runoff water will empty into an existing 24-inch drain pipe and be directed off the street. The water will flow through the loose rock rather than along the street.

That will cost just under $75,000. If a new 24-inch pipe has to be put in, that would add another $25,000 to the total cost.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Mayor Leonard Riley said at Monday’s meeting of the city council. “I have never seen this much water on a street before.”

The council approved the action in a unanimous vote.

In other action on Monday, Planning & Development Director Travis Carter updated the council on the city’s new junk vehicle ordinance. It’s been roughly six weeks since the ordinance was enacted. Carter said that around 70 vehicles in violation of that ordinance had been tagged. All but 30 of them have been removed, and the rest should be gone relatively soon.

“It has been successful in cleaning up our streets,” he said.

The council approved a six-item consent agenda. Four of the items are nuisance properties located on 49th Street, Lower Street, Fairwoods Drive and Middle Street respectively. Code Enforcement Officer Reid Riley discussed each lot in detail and showed pictures of structures in advanced states of deterioration. He told the council that each property owner had been notified of impending action by mail and that notices of such action had been posted on each structure.

Council approval means the city can proceed with demolition and cleaning up the site. The cost of doing that can then be placed as a lien on that property.

Property at 1065 Gibson Street that had been placed in an assessment sale has been redeemed. Council action placed that property via a quitclaim deed into the Bessie Lee Robinson Trust.

A 2017 Ford Taurus has been declared surplus property by the council. The Valley Police Department vehicle has 140,000 miles on it, and the city can now sell it to a high bidder.

First readings were held of ordinances to sell some city-owned lots. The rules were suspended, and the lots were sold following that initial reading. Two parcels on Denna Drive have been purchased by Spurgeon Heard for $2,000. Four parcels on Greenberry Circle have been purchased by Isaac Edward Robinson for $3,000. Property located at 121 Patton Hill Road has been purchased for $1,000 by Rodney L. Nelson, Leah Dozier Nelson, Todd Meacham and Patricia Meacham.

On Monday, July 5, city hall will be closed in observance of Independence Day. The next regular council meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Monday, July 12. The council will meet in a work session at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 15.