A Caledonia property owner has another month to continue cleaning up his Sanders Lane yard after neighbors gave the town’s board of aldermen a petition asking that the area be cleaned in April.
John O’Callaghan, who lives at 147 Sanders Lane in the Myers Estate Subdivision, told aldermen Tuesday he and his family have spent time clearing the property since they received a letter about the situation from the city last month.
In May, aldermen voted to post signs near the home and send the O’Callaghans a letter explaining that nearly every landowner within 400 feet of the home had expressed concerns about the state of the property, which was cluttered with a variety of objects. On Tuesday, during the board of aldermen’s monthly meeting at Town Hall, John O’Callaghan went before the board to respond.
“I didn’t come here with any excuses tonight,” he said. “It is an eyesore. I don’t know if it’s a health hazard or not, but I guess it could be considered that. I know that I need to clean it up…We’ve worked five days since we got the letter on it.”
O’Callaghan told the board “a bunch of stuff” had been moved to the front porch and backyard. Several loads of garbage have been hauled off, he said, and some of it was placed by the street to be hauled off.
“I understand that the neighbors are upset,” O’Callaghan said. “The yard is just cluttered with stuff. I think if I had a couple more weeks I think I could complete it.”
The board voted to continue the matter until the next aldermen meeting on June 3 to give O’Callaghan more time.
“He’s making progress,” Mayor Bill Lawrence said. “He knows he’s got a situation and he’s working on it.”
In other town business:
■ Lawrence informed the board that Allan Glenn plans to leave his post as park director of Ola J. Pickett Park. Glenn has held the position since May 1, 2013.
Glenn did not attend Tuesday night’s meeting — he was working at the 11-acre park — and has not yet turned in a formal letter indicating his plans. But Lawrence said Glenn plans on leaving the post July 31.
“It’s not something we need to take action on tonight, but we do need to be thinking about what we’re going to do moving forward,” Lawrence said.
The mayor added Glenn has done an outstanding job on the baseball fields at the park.
When Glenn took the position his salary was set at $25,000 a year.
■ The board voted to allow the town’s water and sewage department to spend no more than $5,000 to have new flooring installed at the department’s South Street office.
Barrett Baggett, the department’s superintendent, said the price to install the new floor, which includes ceramic tile in some areas and carpet in others, is estimated to be at roughly $4,368.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
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