jpatterson@mariettatimes.com
Marietta City Council continued the momentum of an active fight against blight and lack of property maintenance in the city through the adoption of a fine schedule for violations of the property maintenance code Thursday.
The legislators heard in Ordinance 220 the amended fines following a lapse in applicable fines for more than one year.
They unanimously suspended the second and third readings and provided full support for the adoption.
“Almost a year and a half since it expired, and in that year and a half the code enforcement (official) has not had the ability to levy fines on any property maintenance violations,” said Councilman Bill Gossett, representative of the third ward. “There were no teeth in it for a year and a half … I didn’t find out it was expired until June of 2020. As soon as I found out, I started working on getting something done about it.”