MENTONE - Garage and yard sales may be limited in Mentone beginning this summer.
Monday night, the Mentone Town Council discussed limiting the number of garage/yard sales a resident can have per year. Except for sales during the Mentone Egg Festival, anyone who wants to have a garage or yard sale also will have to get a permit from the town.Town Marshal Jim Eads said other communities have a limitation on the number of days a resident can have a sale. There is one Mentone resident who has a "perpetual" garage sale. Eads asked the council if they wanted to move forward and create an ordinance regulating garage/yard sales.
Council President Tim Croy said it would be a good idea, and councilwoman Jill Gross said the town has nothing on the books now regarding the sales.
If the town creates an ordinance, Croy said it would exclude the Mentone Egg Festival.
Jack Simpson, councilman, said they should give people a chance to have two sales a year. Gross said the permits shouldn't cost anything, but they would have to come to the town hall and pick a permit up. Eric Carlin, utilities superintendent, said Akron charges for their garage/yard sale permits.
"I would think that's something we could look into," said Croy. He later said he didn't care about charging for a permit.
Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross said the council needs to decide what they want in the ordinance, and then tell town attorney Larry Beeson to draft it up.
Beeson was instructed to draft an ordinance for approval at the July 7 meeting. The ordinance would state that a permit would be required for a garage/yard sale in Mentone. No fee would be charged, but a resident would be limited to having two garage/yard sales a year for three days each. No permit would be required for the Mentone Egg Festival and any garage/yard sales held during the festival would not count toward the two-sale annual limit.
Eads said if a person goes over the number of permitted days, the town could charge a fine of $25 for each day over the limit.
"I've had people call in to see if they needed a permit to have garage sales," said Ross.
Beeson will begin working with building inspector Marv Wickens on starting the process of condemning unsafe buildings in Mentone. The first two properties they will investigate will be the red Tridle property on Main Street, and the blue-gray dentist office on the northwest corner of Main Street owned by Richard Surface.
By condemning the properties, utilities could not be hooked up to them. The only way for the property owners to get the buildings out of condemnation and not be torn down is if the buildings are repaired up to code.
If the town decides to tear down the buildings, the town would have to do it at their cost, then recoup the expense through the court system.
In other business, the council:
n Approved an increase in the water reconnect fee from $10 to $25.
n Approved an ordinance creating a one-way stop at the intersection of Walnut and Jackson streets, south on Walnut Street. Carlin reported the stop sign already is in place.
n Approved Eads' request to purchase tires for the police department's Ford F150 pickup from Smith Tire for $500, including installation. It was the lowest of three bids.
n Approved the Keystone maintenance agreement for software and license for the clerk-treasurer's office.
n Approved having the town's budget hearing July 7 after the regular meeting. The regular meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.
