MOUND CITY – Centerville resident Brenda Conner met with the Linn County Commissioners on Tuesday, July 5, about mowing and road concerns.
Conner said she had several complaints. The first one was about the streets in Centerville. She reminded them that she had asked that the county come and clean up the streets, specifically one lot. However, when the crew came, they did not work on that lot.
Conner brought pictures to show the commissioners. She showed them a brush pile that the county employees left on a lot. She said that now that pile is infested with animals, mainly foxes.
The foxes from that brush pile have killed 30 chickens and a turkey at one residence, seven chickens and three ducks at another residence, and 20 chickens and several ducks of another family.
At one home, a fox ran between a mother and her young child and grabbed a chicken, said Conner.
She said that when they contacted the game warden about killing the foxes, the warden said that the person better make sure that it had livestock in its mouth when they killed it.
She pointed out how the trees on a piece of property were growing into the street and asked if the could be cut back.
Commissioner Danny McCullough said maybe the mowers did not know they were supposed to mow in the unincorporated city.
Conner said that the person who used to mow that area, now retired, always took care of mowing the streets in Centerville.
Commissioner Rick James told Conner to have Codes Enforcement Darin Wilson help her fill out a complaint.
Conner told the commissioners that what was so upsetting was that she and her husband had bought a piece of property in Centerville during a tax sale and they kept the grounds mowed.
However, she said, there was a house on the lot that was packed with stuff and they had not yet cleaned it out. But they received a letter from previous Code Enforcement Director Bobby Young informing them they had five days to tear down the house.
She said that she did not understand why all of her complaints had not been taken care of and yet she was asked to tear down the house in five days.
Conner then presented an additional complaint. Having been a school bus driver for more than 40 years, she said she did not understand why county employees don’t frequently check low water bridges for branches. She says that she often has to stop the bus and get off and move a branch so she can drive the bus across the bridge.
Conner told the commissioners that 1700 Road has two bridges that are so uneven with the road that it sets off the alarm in her bus.
Other roads that Conner complained about were 300 Road and Kansas Highway 7 from the west and 1900 and Baskerville roads. At 300 Road, she said that you had to go clear out into the intersections to see if there were any cars coming because of brush. And at Baskerville, in a bus, a driver could not see because of trees growing in the ditch.
The commissioners told Conner to visit with Wilson and fill out complaint forms.