Equal Application of the Law

We had a good board of aldermen's meeting last Monday. There were a couple of controversial topics discussed and I was encouraged by the deliberation and the exchange of ideas that took place. This board will not be rubber stamping anything through.


1. Steve Johnson – Southwest Materials, 2340 W. St. Highway CC. Requesting to Waive Water Impact on Temporary Water Line.

An equal application of law to every condition of man is fundamental.
-- Thomas Jefferson, to George Hay, 1807. ME 11:341

In a 4 to 2 vote, the board decided to charge Southwest Materials the difference between the impact fee they payed for their existing 2 inch line and the impact fee for the new 4 inch line that they wanted to put in. At $1000/per inch, they will end up paying a $2000 impact fee. I voted nay on the proposed solution. I am of the opinion that if you have a rule it should be applied equally. If the rule is not sufficient, than it should be changed. I felt like not applying the entire fee to Southwest Materials might appear that we were giving them preferential treatment. To avoid this, I would have liked to see the code changed to allow all businesses to receive this same exception in the future.


2. Lila Davis-Resident at 407 S. 3rd Ave. Discussion on Code Violations.

I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty
than to those attending too small a degree of it.
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Archibald Stuart (1791)

There was no vote taken on this issue, only discussion. Don, who is the city employee charged with enforcing property codes presented an informational powerpoint presentation showing us a number of examples of properties that were in violation of the junk car or parking ordinances. He was also able to show us the improvements that citizens made to their properties after he went out to visit with them and talk to them about being in violation. Lila Davis also spoke to the board about her situation and how the ordinances are causing her undo burden, as the vehicles and property in question belong to her son who is often out of town, and she is disabled. Her neighborhood is old and and was not designed for multi car families. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox spoke to the other side of this issue. They are of the opinion that violations of these ordinances ruin their property's value and are unfair to the rest of the neighborhood.

I visited Lila's neighborhood and found most of the homes were in violation. In fact, all over town there are many businesses and homes in violation. The Ozark Parks and Recreations department is even in violation, as it has buses parked in the grass at the Finley River Park. Personally, I think that if you want to live in a neighborhood where there are rules about what homes should look like and how they are maintained, you should purchase your home in neighborhood that has covenants. This way, you have the right to govern the appearance of your neighborhood through civil litigation.

The board has decided that the parking ordinance is something that needs to be looked into and possibly changed. Until we can further discus this at our retreat on the 16th, the city will not be enforcing this ordinance.