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Parks weighs regs for mobile homes

Karl Jeter

The Village Council, in the process of establishing a new set of building codes, is wrestling with the question of standards for manufactured housing. The issue was discussed at the May 10 meeting.
There are two schools of thought about the allowable age of trailers to be placed in the village. The process in use now relies solely on the recommendation of the code enforcement contractor. A trailer of any age may be allowed if it meets a fairly strict set of standards.
Many municipalities in the area have also set an ultimate age limit for trailers of 12 or 15 years for placement within their city limits. The theory behind setting an age standard is that a trailer beyond that age will probably not maintain its condition very long even if it looks good enough to meet standards when placed. Often, municipalities find themselves dealing with dilapidated and abandoned trailers at taxpayers’ expense.
The council discussed a more generous standard of 30 years, with the inspector’s report being the deciding factor. The issue was tabled until next month’s meeting to allow further review.
In other business, Mayor Kevin Kately said the village is still in the process of evaluating on-line bill payment systems. He said that some systems that looked good at first included costs that vary with the volume of on-line payers, making actual costs difficult to evaluate. Kately stressed that after the system is adopted, residents will always have the option of paying by mail or in person if they prefer.
Also, Parks legal council Robert Chevalier reported that the village has now adopted the necessary traffic ordinances to allow the village to resume handling tickets and traffic fines in-house. The responsibility for traffic court was temporarily shifted to the parish while gaps in the ordinance book were filled.

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