When the calendar rolled over to the new fiscal year Oct. 1, City of Vicksburg officials said among the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s (BOMA) chief priorities would be continued progress toward cleaning up derelict properties across both wards.

While each BOMA meeting includes updates from Director of Community Development Jeff Richardson on the most recent list of properties needing attention, officials said the locations can still pile up. David Miller, chief of inspections for the city, said the process for resolving the issues is clear-cut and works with property owners at each available interval.

“We give them every opportunity to get it cleaned up,” Miller said. “When someone calls in and complains about a property, we’ll try to talk to (the property owner) about the minimum code standards and things like that. We’ll send them a letter and tell them all the violations, and we’ll give them probably 30 days.”

Miller said it is only after the initial letter and time period to make improvements has expired that a property owner may find themselves on a list at a board meeting.

“After that first 30 days, we take it before the board,” he said. “That’s the process we use. That’s a state statue for how we go about it. It gives us permission to go in and demolish the structure (or clean the property).”

Even once a property has made it onto a list to be presented to BOMA, Miller said, the property owner still has an opportunity to resolve the issue.

“We’ll send them a letter stating what date it will go before the board,” he said. “And it will be 14 days before the meeting. So, there’s an opportunity to appear before the board. They can go before the board and ask for an extension and give them the info on why they haven’t brought their property up to code standards.”

Miller said it is only after both opportunities have been exhausted that the city will step in and clean a property or demolish a structure.

“After all the extensions have run out, we’ll send a letter stating no work has been done and we are going to proceed with demoing the structure. And they have an opportunity, even during that time, to come in during the scope of the work and, if it’s approved by the board, then we can give them more time.”

Miller said all work done to private property is bid out to local contractors, who perform the actual labor, and a tax lien is placed against the property.

“It never goes against the individuals,” he said. “It always goes against the property. Then, the city will get reimbursed because it goes against (the owner’s) tax debt. When they pay their taxes, the city gets reimbursed for funds that are spent to clean the property or tear something down.”

Miller said the process is designed with the property owner in mind, and stressed the city never takes ownership of locations where it cleans or does demolition work.

“We never take ownership of the property. The property owner still owns the property, even though we tore the house down, or whatever the work was. They are just paying for the work that was done.”