Wyo4News Staff, [email protected]
GREEN RIVER, WYOMING (September 23, 2020) — Voluntary compliance, that is the message from the Green River City Council following a workshop the night of September 22. The Council met with employees to discuss enforcement of the City of Green River’s nuisance ordinance.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=82]
Tom Jarvie, Chief of Police for the Green River Police Department (GRPD), says enforcing a nuisance violation can be tough because most of the time it is subjective. One person’s trash may be a treasure to another person.
Jarvie reported that in 2019, the GRPD responded to 2,475 animal/nuisance calls, and of those calls, 330 were nuisance/parking issues. 49 calls were self-initiated by the part-time nuisance officer and 43 were citizen complaints.
Jarvie says the GRPD relies on calls from residents, and if it is a safety issue, the GRPD must address the complaint.
Councilman Jim Zimmerman, who works for Sweetwater County, says the County policy is complaint-driven only, in other words, no complaint, no nuisance. The Council agreed this is not what the City wants to do, but would rather enforce the rules when a violation is visible.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=71]
Green River Mayor Pete Rust says if it is a safety issue and the City needs to deal with the violation. He suggested the City do a safety inventory, including overhanging trees that impede pedestrians walking on sidewalks, and site triangles that impede drivers from seeing safely around corners on intersections.
The Council agreed with Rust and instructed Jarvie to focus on site triangles and safety issues for drivers and pedestrians. A community-wide inventory will take place, letters will be sent to residents in violation, and voluntary compliance will be the key.
The City will use school bus drivers, delivery companies, citizen complaints, and general employees who drive the streets to complete the inventory.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=62]
