Landis draws up graffiti ordinance

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 3:00 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend | By Shavonne Potts

spotts@salisburypost.com

LANDIS — The board will look closer at its proposed graffiti ordinance before making a final decision on it.

The ordinance was tabled until the board can receive suggestions from residents about cleaning up the markings, what is defined as graffiti and imposed fines.

Alderman James Furr first brought up this idea of a graffiti ordinance at the June meeting.

His original proposal was to enforce a clean-up ordinance that would give property owners up to seven days to remove the graffiti. If the property owner did not remove the markings, the town would remove it and charge the owner.

A few residents spoke in opposition to the ordinance.

Resident Nadine Cherry asked what type of removal would they use that would not kill a tree. Cherry also asked what about people who are elderly or disabled and aren't able to remove the graffiti. She asked what could be done for those people.

"We don't need any more ordinances in place because you can't enforce the ones you have now," she said.

Resident Charlene Nolt said there are people who would volunteer to remove the graffiti. "There's no reason to fine them," she said.

Christina Burton, another resident, said homeowners have already been victimized and imposing a fine would be another victimization.

"It seems like too much," she said.

Burton would like to see a committee formed that would gather volunteers to help with removal so people won't have to pay fines.

Town Attorney Rick Locklear said the reason for the ordinance is to give the police a regulation so that if they see offensive graffiti they have grounds to enforce removal. He said the bottom line is that if the graffiti is allowed to remain, it would only encourage more graffiti.

Suggestions were asked to be sent to Town Administrator Reed Linn.

In other business, the board:

- Presented Landis Firefighter Danny Eller with a commendation for his actions on Sept. 13 when he pulled a woman from a burning vehicle following a collision at N.C. 152 and Stirewalt Road.

- Received an update on the Pole Attachment Program from Ted McGavran, of McGavran Engineering.

Under the ordinance, providers who want to attach to town-owned poles are required to pay $50 per attachment, per pole. If a provider is attached, meaning they have wire connections or power supplies to the pole, and have not been authorized, they will be fined $15 per day per attachment until the violation is corrected. This has been an ongoing issue since April 2008 when the board approved the new rate increase.

McGavran, whose company does engineer work for the town, said there will be a fight with Time Warner.

"They tend to do business by intimidation," he said.

McGavran suspects Time Warner will take the town to business court in Raleigh to dispute some restrictions and regulations.

He expects the negotiations to take 90 days and if they must go to court, another 90 days.

- Received a request from Police Chief Brian McCoy about allowing golf carts on certain streets. The carts, which were donated by a local golf course, would be used during the Oct. 24 5K run/walk to support breast cancer.

Linn said some of the survivors may not be able to complete the 3.2 mile walk/run course so they would like to use the carts as "emergency vehicles" to ride the participants across the finish line.

There will not be street closings the day of the race, but there will be people placed at intersections to notify motorists of the walk so they can drive cautiously.

- Discussed the N.C. Department of Transportation's Transportation Improvement Plan.

Alderman Hilton said the DOT is doing a six-year plan, which includes widening of roads, constructing sidewalks and repairing bridges. In Landis, the plan is to build a grade separation and extension of Kimball Road to Interstate 85. Only the top one or two projects are considered, Hilton said.

- Received a presentation from Police Detective Roger Hosey about the department's in-car computer systems.

The town is operating at least a decade behind with its mobile data units, he said.

The current system is slow and the company, Motorola, will not make any more parts. Rowan County and a few other towns are using the OSSI Record Management System, which has a high upfront cost but offers more capabilities and is cheaper in the long run.

The OSSI system will allow officers to see what details the 911 dispatcher types into the system, give a call history of a home where a previous incident may have occurred, check local records, view mugshots and track other officers in the field. This is a federal mandated change and the switch must take place by Dec. 1. However, there is a temporary fix, Hosey said. The department could buy aircards so they can receive wireless connections.

"We can keep it going, but it's going to be slower than it already is," Hosey said.

They've already received printers for the cars. The OSSI system is $15,500 and the department has some money to put toward it, but is $4,200 short.

The board voted to amend the budget and allow the police department to use part of the $11,000 the town just received from a recent surplus equipment auction.