T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Shadyside Mayor Mike Meintel spreads the word that during this harsh weather conditions the village’s community center will be open around the clock as a designated warming center.

SHADYSIDE – As temperatures enter into the negatives, Shadyside Mayor Mike Meintel is trying to spread the word that the village’s community center will be open 24/7 as a warming center.

During Wednesday evening’s village council meeting, Meintel said that the forecast is calling for some bitter temperatures and he wants to get the information out to all residents that the community center will be open for anyone to stay warm regardless of the time.

Following his announcement, Meintel read a new potential nuisance property ordinance for its second time.

The Feb. 11 meeting will hear the third reading of the potential ordinance. Village council will then vote whether or not to put the ordinance into place. Law Director Kelly Kotur said that if the ordinance is passed residents will have a 30-day grace period to get everything in order.

“At the Feb. 11 meeting, council will actually vote to pass the ordinance, and then after that, there is a waiting period before it goes into effect. So residents will essentially have a grace period to get things in compliance before they would face any kind of citations,” Kotur said. “Probably some time in March is when it would actually go into effect.”

Kutor said the ordinance in itself specifies the definition of what a nuisance is.

“There’s probably about 30 different instances or situations that would be defined as a nuisance, and then it specifies a procedure for addressing those nuisances,” Kotur explained. “So once a report is filed, then the mayor or the code enforcer will go out and verify that it actually is a nuisance, and then that person will be put on notice to correct that nuisance.”

She added that if the resident doesn’t correct the nuisance they will be fined or cited.

Residents can appeal the finding of a nuisance and Kotur said that the village will also have a procedure for that.

“It’s really trying to put everything out there – what a nuisance is and what the procedures for dealing with that nuisance would be,” she said. “It can be a daily fine. It can be $100 a day if people don’t comply. But, I mean, the village isn’t really looking at this as a money making process. It’s really encouraging people to get their properties clean.”

Koutur added that residents don’t have to make their property look like it could be on “HGTV” but just look livable.

“We just want them to look cleaned up. It has been a problem with many homeowners that do take care of their property, and then someone next door has junk cars and they’ve got trash out and it negatively impacts property values and just the morale of the village,” Kotur said. “Both landlord and the tenant will be put on notice if there’s a violation.”

She noted that it will depend on the nature of the violation. For example, if it’s trash accumulating, that would probably fall more on the tenant.

“But also usually with rental agreements, there is some kind of clause they have to keep their place tidy, so they’re not only violating the lease, but then they could be violating our ordinance as well. Both parties might be put on notice,” she said. “This isn’t to punish the people but to encourage the village to be as best as it can be.”

Meintel added that residents are going to have to learn that it doesn’t matter who knows who — nobody’s going to get out of not keeping their property decently cleaned.

“The ‘good old boys club’ is done in this village,” Meintel said. “Don’t bring me a ticket to tear up, okay. I empower the police chief to do his job. I back him. I back the blue 100% but the ‘good old’ boys days are over, and it’s going to take a couple examples. I’m sorry, it’s going to happen. Everybody’s going to have had a fair warning.”