MILFORD – He railed against what he saw as bullying and dictatorship, but in the end Joe Graff agreed to clean up his lawn.
Graff, who lives on North West Street in Milford, accused the town council Monday of bullying him with a recent letter threatening a $500-a-day fine if he didn’t neatly arrange the piles of firewood littering his front yard. The first letter he received was in April 2011.
“When I was a kid, I didn’t like bullies. I don’t like them any more today,” he told the council. “This is a dictatorship, telling me how to store my wood.”
He received the letter after Ken Brower, town building inspector, looked at his property along with about five others in town. Brower was also concerned with a hole Graff had dug in his basement wall to throw wood through.
Graff asked why no one on the council spoke with him personally before the recent letter. Town Utilities Superintendent Randy Veach said he had, but Graff replied that wasn’t good enough because he wasn’t on the council.
That doesn’t matter, town attorney Jay Rigdon pointed out. Veach is authorized to act on the council’s behalf. After further discussion, during which Graff promised he could be “as obstinate as you guys want to make me,” he promised to clean his lawn in time for Milford Fest May 26.
The council agreed to hold off enforcement until after then.
Also during the meeting, the council held a public hearing for the final phase of BRTB property annexation. There were few comments and no complaints, and the council will vote on the annexation and a fiscal plan next month.
The town also swore in a new reserve police officer, Michael Reece. Reece has been riding with Milford officers for a few months.
