Soperton City Council Members Hosts Public Information Meeting Regarding Ordinance Enforcement

Soperton Mayor John Koon, City Council Members Xandra Brown and Wade Clark and City Attorney Phil Calhoun hosted a public information meeting regarding the enforcement of two city ordinances on July 24, at the Soperton City Hall.

The meeting consisted primarily of a presentation by Koon regarding two ordinances the city would begin enforcing, a derelict house ordinance and a junk car ordinance, and allowing for attendees to ask questions about the enforcement. 

“I’m honestly trying to fulfill an obligation that I committed to you guys when I took office, and that was we’re going to clean up the city, and we’re going to do it right,” Koon said.

The first ordinance regards blighted housing and property, which includes dilapidated or derelict housing as well as housing with overgrown lawns. According to Koon, these houses pose a fire hazard and a safety issue, claiming these properties attract drug dealers and homeless people to them, as well as unwanted animals such as rats and snakes.

These properties also serve as an “eyesore” for locals and visitors, according to Koon, which can also significantly impact the value of surrounding properties.

The second ordinance regards junk cars, abandoned or inoperative vehicles which have not been used for many years. These cars also serve as a visual blight, safety hazard and animal attractors, and also hinder the city of Soperton’s vision for growth and community pride.

“You don’t have to agree with our vision, but that is our vision,” said Koon.

During the presentation, Koon defined the terms used in the ordinances and showed images of homes with lawns crowded with junk and abandoned cars to describe what kinds of homes and cars the ordinances were designed to combat. None of the images were of Soperton residences, but were instead images pulled from online sources by Koon to illustrate the problems as wide-spread issues.

“This is everybody’s issue,” he said. “This happens in the white neighborhoods, in the black neighborhoods, the hispanic neighborhoods, this happens all over town.”

According to Koon, these ordinances are the product of eight months of work, with initial discussions beginning in 2017 when Koon joined the city council as a member.

The city of Soperton will hire Chad Phillips, Vidalia’s city marshall, to act as a part-time code enforcement officer. Phillips will compile a list of local code violations and send a letter notifying the offender of the violation.

Notification recipients will have 14 days to respond to the letter, then 30 days to rectify the violation. If the violation is not resolved within 45 days of receiving the letter, the recipient will have to appear before a magistrate judge.

Calhoun also noted letter recipients would have opportunities to appeal violation notices in court, as well as informal appeals to Phillips directly. City officials claimed a strong belief in Phillips’ judgement and expertise, citing his character when several attendees raised concerns over potential unwarranted violation notices.

“We listen to you, we sit down and we try to give the people that voted us in what they want, and we realized we [aren’t] going to make everybody happy,” said Brown. “We[‘re] going to step on some toes.”