Would you be willing to buy a vacant lot within the Clarksdale city limits for $1 with the promise you’ll build a home on that site within a year?
That’s the question city leaders are pondering as they look at ways to create revenue in a town that is facing major infrastructure problems.
Commissioner Bo Plunk said a citizen recently made the suggestion about selling the numerous vacant lots the city owns in Clarksdale. Plunk said he thought the idea was a good suggestion and one worth pursuing.
“Right now, we’re not getting any property tax off an empty lot,” Plunk said during the Tuesday, May 29 meeting of the Clarksdale Mayor and Board of Commissioners.
“We’re having to maintain the lots and we’re not making any money off the lots,” Plunk said, estimating that the city owns approximately 100 lots in the city limits.
The majority of the vacant lots which Plunk speaks of are properties that have been declared a nuisance and abandoned by the original property owner.
Once a complaint is filed with the Clarksdale Code Enforcement office in regard to overgrown weeds and dilapidated structures, then the property owner is notified and given the opportunity to make repairs and clean up the property.
If they fail to do so and the property is declared a menace by the Board of Commissioners, then the property is cleaned up by the Clarksdale Public Works Department. The property owner is sent the cleanup bill, which can be paid in increments or in full. If the bill is not paid, then a tax lien is placed on the property and it could eventually become the property of the state, which eventually hands it back over to the city.
In a related matter, Clarksdale resident Oscar Scott complained about a property along Roosevelt Avenue near Garfield Street where the “grass is growing a foot high on top of dirt.”
Scott was asking commissioners if there could be something done to clean up the site. He was informed of the process in which properties are declared nuisances and the steps that must be taken before they can be cleaned up.
As Plunk said, unfortunately, that process can take from 60 to 90 days.
“Summertime will be over before that grass is cut,” Plunk said.
City attorney Margarette Meeks said she would investigate the legality of offering the properties for sale to the public and report back to commissioners.
Mayor Chuck Espy praised the suggestion and said, “That could potentially be a great proposal.”
In other news, the commission:
- Gave its approval to a Birthplace of American Music (BAM) Festival to be held on Saturday, June 16 along Delta Avenue in the area from Blues Alley to Third Street.
The festival would include live music, food, vendors and fun. The event would begin at 10 a.m. with outside activities and then from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. feature a type of bar crawl where patrons can go from one venue to another to enjoy the live entertainment.
“We want to make it a blues block kind of party,” said Jecorry Miller, a co-owner of the Delta Blues Alley Café located in downtown Clarksdale and one of the festival organizers.
- Unanimously agreed to accept a bid to purchase two street sweepers at a cost of $187,750 each from Covington Sales and Service of Denham Springs, La. City Clerk Cathy Clark was also authorized to obtain quotes to finance the purchase.
It will be anywhere from three to six months before the equipment will arrive here as it has to be built. Plunk also wanted to make sure operator training would also be included in the bid price, which it is.
“We have to make sure that with this kind of money, that we know how to operate it,” Plunk said.
- Approved a change order in the amount of $22,900 in regard to an ongoing water/sewer project in Clarksdale.
During the cleaning of one of the water storage tanks near the city water plant, the contractor discovered parts of the tank had rusted through and there were actual holes in the tank, said Bill Coker, president of Coker Consultants and the consultant for the city on the project. The additional money will allow the contractor to cut out the damaged metal and replace it, Coker said.
The project is the first phase of a three-phase project spread out over three years. Much of the money for the work comes from federal grants administered through the U.S. Corps of Engineers with Clarksdale Public Utilities picking up the city’s matching portion of the grant.
The current phase now totals $648,483 and its also involved closing several old wells in the city and making repairs at the city’s sewage treatment plant.
The estimated cost for the second phase of the project would be $970,000 with work beginning sometime later this year, Coker said. There isn’t a timeline or cost projection yet for the third phase.
- Authorized the city clerk to advertise for bids for the installation of traffic signals at the intersections of Highway 161 and Desoto Avenue and Highway 161 and Madison Avenue.
- Was informed that the fire department will be able to purchase 10 recliners for use in their stations from a couple thousand dollars generated from the sale of a police/fire calendar and donations received from individuals.
Espy praised the forward thinking of the department.
“They were able to raise money in a creative method where taxpayers didn’t have to foot the bill,” the mayor said.
