Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Emmet City Council Hears Complaints

Gripes and complaints were the order of the day at the Emmet City Council meeting, Thursday, June 11.

There was only one item of actual business on the agenda, but complaints by citizens kept the council in session for more than two hours.

The complaints dealt with two issues water rates being raised and an ordinance passed at the April meeting giving the council the authority to condemn unsightly property.

Former Emmet Mayor Dale Booker voiced his displeasure with this ordinance, and at the council saying members of the audience could only have 90 seconds to state their business.

Booker said if he only got a minute-and-a-half, the council could talk with his attorney.

In addition, there was the air of impropriety at the meeting when the mayor and a member of the council left the meeting, reportedly to go to the bathroom. However, the meeting was still in session at the time and no motion had been made to take a break.

Booker, though, was quite unhappy at having a trailer he had moved onto his property from Pine Bluff being condemned by the city. He said the trailer had sat on a lot in Pine Bluff for 20 years with no problems.

The council had sent him a letter of condemnation because the trailer was not hooked onto the city's sewer system nor underpinned.

But, Booker pointed out, the trailer is to be used for storage and no one will be living there. Therefore, there is no need for it to have a sewer hookup.

He asked what method the city used to determine what buildings were eyesores and which weren't, saying there were other places in Emmet where the structures were in worse condition than his trailer including the city dump on First Street.

Booker said a member of the council could easily be found in violation of this ordinance, and this can of worms could get the city sued.

Councilman Rene' Seles told Booker there were several buildings in Emmet deserted and looking bad, saying he wasn't singled out and there are others needing to be condemned as well.

Emmet Mayor Otis "Chuck" Otwell said the council had no idea the trailer was to be used for storage and not as living quarters. The idea, he told Booker, was to make sure it was brought up to living condition.

Booker said those who brought the trailer in were only told to park it and not hook it to the sewer system. He then asked if his trailer would be taken off the list of property to be condemned.

Seles and Booker got tense with one another, as she felt he directed his comments toward her. She told him she didn't make the motion to put his property on the list for condemnation, but did discuss the McBride building and Kermit Glasgow's junkyard. The motion, she said, had nothing to do with his property.

Otwell said the decision to condemn the property was made by the entire council.

Booker, though, said he had spoken with other members of the city's governing body and they told him Seles had made the motion to condemn the trailer.

His question was what would happen now. "I'm here now for a hearing and would like action taken on it."

The land, he said, had been offered for sale at one time, but because of this incident he may put a trailer park on the property at 5th and 6th streets, possibly turn it into a cow pasture or let it go back to timberland now.

What happened, Otwell said, was done in good faith. There were several unsightly places in Emmet needing to be dealt with, and the council knew it was opening a can of worms with the ordinance.

"It's up to the council," he said, "if we drop one (piece of property from the list) we need to drop them all."

"I support the effort to clean up the town," Booker said, "it needs it. But I still want to know what system was used to select the property (to be condemned) when others were worse."

In Booker's case, Otwell said, it was not the property, but having a trailer on the land not underpinned or hooked onto the sewer system.

Booker, still wanting an answer, said this trailer wasn't to be lived in and he receive no complaints when it was in Pine Bluff without being underpinned.

Seles said this property was across the street from a church and Booker wants to turn it into a cattle lot.

Booker responded saying he didn't appreciate the city government enacting such ordinances without first canvassing the town for opinions.

He said the council could have called him and the situation could have easily been worked out.

Changing topics, Booker said the city's emergency preparedness was non-existent and Emmet has been lucky no tornado has blown through the town.

One was began, he said, but stopped when the head of the committee didn't come to the meetings. In the event of a disaster, he continued, no one knows what to do because nothing is in place to tell them.

Booker also complained about the water rates, saying the city has gone into debt to put lines all over town, but the system was poorly designed and depends on a 50 or 60 year old well.

He suggested hooking onto Hope's system, as the two communities had such an agreement at one time.

Otwell said Emmet still needed new water lines to hook onto Hope's system because the old lines are worn out. Emmet, he said, is growing and the idea is to maximize the water system.

The hydronics of the situation, he continued, have been studied, with water being the value of ISO insurance ratings. In addition, he said, no house in Emmet will be more than 500 feet from a fire hydrant with the new system in place.

Because of this, he said, the city's fire rating should drop a full point.

"I think everyone deserves good drinking water," he said, "and we have the money to drill a well if we need to."

The rates were raised because of the new system so the city can repay the loan. And, Otwell said, the rates were set by the lending agency, not the city. In addition, the last water rate increase Emmet had was in 1988.

According to Otwell, the city has been told to raise the rates several times by the state, but didn't because it had the funds to keep the system operational.

Another reason for the new system, he said, is so the city can rebuild some streets in need of repair. This can't be done under the current circumstances because of water leaks beneath the streets.

Streets, he said, can't be built without a good foundation, and there's no good foundation with water in the ground.

There is also a problem with water pressure with the current system, he said. Some houses have plenty of pressure, while others have next to none. The new system should take care of this.

Discussing the rates, Otwell said they were based on the median income of the residents of Emmet. Bodcaw's water rates are $33 for the first 5,000 gallons while Emmet