At its April 20 meeting, the Claypool Town Council approved a couple of street improvement projects and a junk vehicle ordinance.

Gene Warner presented estimates for road work in the town. Street improvements are planned for Main Street, Section Street, Clay Street, Graceland Cemetery and the New Beginnings housing section off of Section Street.

The council approve the cemetery project, expected to cost $5,729 for recoating, cleaning and edging. Funding will come out of the cemetery fund. The council also approved the housing section project at an estimate of $937.50, which is to be taken from TIF funds.

This left a remaining cost of $12,533.75 for the remaining road projects. The members of the council requested clarification on the prices and tabled the remaining projects.

Claypool Town Marshal Louis Mediano requested that the town’s existing junk vehicle ordinance, Ordinance 2013-12-02, and approve an updated ordinance. Mediano stated he researched similar ordinances adopted by other town and wanted to make some changes to Claypool’s junk vehicle ordinance.

The definition of a junk vehicle and the penalties for having a junk vehicle were clarified. Claypool now defines a junk vehicles as any motorized device which transports people or objects. This includes cars, trucks, motor-driven cycles, trucks, trailers, semi-trailers. A vehicle is considered junk if it has no valid license plate and not housed by a structure.

In the case of penalties, officers can cite both the owner of the vehicle and the owner of the property where the vehicle is stored. Citations range from $75 to $200 (amount dependent on number of offenses), and each successive day that the junk vehicle remains is considered a separate offense.

Mediano said that vehicles are tagged and notices are sent out when junk vehicles are discovered. Owners typically have 20 days to deal with the vehicle before a citation is issued.

The council approved Ordinance 2015-04-01 with Mediano’s updates to the language.

The town’s Spring Clean-Up is scheduled for Wednesday, May 13. Town Clerk Connie Morgan provided a list of items excluded from pick-up. Those items are as follows:

• Tires
• Wet Paint
• Hazardous chemicals
• Household chemicals
• Motor oil or grease
• Car batteries
• Computers
• Televisions
• Pipes, Posts, Iron or lumber more than 4 feet in length
• No liquids of any kind
• Large pieces of concrete, rock and/or concrete
• Appliances with Freon and/or compressors still in them

A letter was written to the council what could be done about the dead or dying trees along Section Street. The council explained there is no money in the budget for new trees or maintenance. A few ideas were thrown around, from volunteer work days to soliciting donations. “We’ll see what we can do,” said board member Niki Miller.

Miller also mentioned that a number of garbage cans are being left on the streets all week long. Garbage cans are only supposed to be placed on streets on garbage pick-up days. The remaining days, they are to be stored off the street near houses. Miller said she didn’t want the council to have to draft an ordinance to keep trash cans off the roads.

The matter of due dates changing on utility bills was brought up. The council said they would check with Morgan as to why different due dates were showing up.