BURTON CITY COUNCIL SWEARS IN MEMBERS, VOTES TO KEEP CURRENT MANUFACTURED HOME ORDINANCE
Four members of the Burton City Council began a new term in office at the council’s meeting Tuesday.
Mayor David Zajicek, Mayor Pro-Tem Nathan Kalkhake and councilmembers Paul McLaughlin and Macey Tidwell were administered the oath of office after running unopposed in the May 1st election.
After the councilmembers were sworn in, they began discussion on amending the city’s current mobile home and pre-manufactured home ordinance. The item had been tabled at each of the council’s last three meetings.
Zajicek said there were four options the council could take at Tuesday’s meeting.
After discussion from the council and from residents who expressed both approval and disapproval of allowing mobile homes within city limits, the council ultimately voted to leave the ordinance as is, addressing homes on a case by case basis.
Before the council’s vote, Zajicek was presented a petition with 32 signatures in opposition to mobile homes in the city.
Zajicek said the city currently has ten mobile homes that are occupied. There are also four homes that are unoccupied, with three considered beyond repair and one destroyed by fire. Per the city’s current ordinance, residents have to live in the home and cannot rent it out to someone else.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the council moved to contract Tom Whitesides as an ordinance officer. Whitesides, a former licensed inspector who is retired after working 40 years in construction, will be tasked with making sure homeowners within the city are in compliance with city ordinance. Update @ 5:45 a.m. Thursday: The council agreed to pay Whitesides $10 per hour to serve as code enforcement officer.