Residents have called the Carroll County Health Department so often over the years to report neighbors who neglect to mow their lawns, some officials and complainers have grown close.
“A man calls me every spring to complain about the lot next to him where the property owner never cuts his grass,” said Larry Leitch, county health officer.
“I know spring is here when he calls. I?ve talked to him so much, he?s invited me to his house to see his train garden. And every year, he has to call the Health Department.”
Commissioners are weighing a bill that would treat repeat offenders ? defined as residents with two violations in a year ? as ongoing violators, saving neighbors the hassle of restarting a lengthy complaint process every year.
“Some people prefer to let the county mow their lawns every summer,” said Kim Millender, county attorney. “For people living in those neighborhoods, it?s frustrating.”
About eight to 10 Carroll residents refuse to cut their grass, forcing the county to hire contractors to mow their lawns two or three times a year, said Ed Singer, environmental health director with the county health department.
And contracted lawn mowers aren?t cheap, Millender said, often charging residents $250 each time.
Current law allows violators of the county?s nuisance abatement code 15 to 20 days to comply after a neighbor lodges a complaint.
The proposed billwould allow the county to take immediate action when weeds grow to a foot, said Singer.
“There are few things that can get neighbors so agitated than weeds,” Leitch said.
Commissioners will decide in January whether to include the bill in the legislative package they send to the General Assembly for passage.
