By John Howell

City Code Department officers John McCollum and Andy Berryhill asked Batesville’s mayor and aldermen to consider adopting the 2006 International Property Maintenance Code after discovering open sewage in several areas of the city.

“We’ve got sewer flowing on top of the ground,” McCollum told city officials at their Tuesday meeting. McCollum said that starting last Thursday he inspected the Broadway trailer park and found sewage under trailers and extension cords running between trailers to provide electricity.

“Due to being a health hazard, according to our code, we can abate the problem immediately if it concerns safety or health,” McCollum said. City Water and Superintendent Mike Ross cut off water service to the park, McCollum said. City officials also contact the power utility, he said.

By Friday morning, “the problem was solved,” McCollum said, with the effluent cleaned from the ground surface and sanitary sewer service restored.

“While we were there Thursday, Tallahatchie Valley advised me of two other houses in town that had sewage in their yards, one on Claude Street and one on Gordon Drive,” McCollum continued.

“Today, the water department got called,” McCollum said, citing a Tubbs Road trailer where a sewer line was broken, allowing sewage to run on top of the ground. Water service was cut off at that location as well, he said.

Mayor Jerry Autrey said that he would ask TVEPA personnel and city workers, including meter readers, to report suspected sewer leaks.

Berryhill said the Property Maintenance Code would give code officers a tool to use against negligent landlords.

“It gives us a little more bite, when we do an inspection,” Berryhill said.

“The bottom line is about property values,” Alderman Stan Harrison. “When somebody, what I call a rogue landlord, gets a place next to you and does something like this, your property value has immediately gone down. People that are going to rent houses have a responsibility to take care of them.”

The code officers’ request for the additional ordinance was met with questions from aldermen.
“If we’re going to adopt it, we need to enforce it,” Alderman Bill Dugger said.

“Is there some way to simplify things toward this sewage issue?” Dugger asked.

McCollum reviewed the steps the city had taken to cut off water service to the locations with standing sewage.

“So we actually already have something in place?” Dugger asked.
“That’s in the code book,” McCollum said.

“That’s good,” Dugger replied.

“The bottom line I see in this situation as it sits here today is,” Alderman Eddie Nabors said, “as soon as the city was aware that the problem existed it was tended to efficiently and quickly.”

“I think we can separate a sewage issue from appearance and junk issues,” Nabors continued. “That’s an immediate health hazard that can be abated under what we already have.”