September 27, 2013 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch Page 27 . . Problem Properties Still Impacting City FROM PAGE 26 the habitual offender designation would be given after a property reached any combination of five of either confirmed NSCC calls for service, citations paid or guilty verdicts in District Court over a 12-month period. “Once you reach that threshold of five, then you would be fined,” Stevenson told the council. The overall goal of the changes is to target the small percentage of properties that require constant attention from NSCC, said Phillips. “While we experience an exceptionally high voluntary compliance rate, plus or minus 95-percent, we often return to the same properties over and over again,” she wrote. “These repeated visits are costly and use up valuable resources.” Stevenson, who served as NCSS director prior to his appointment as interim city administrator, further elaborated on Phillips’ concerns. “What we’re trying to stop here, as you know and we’ve been talking about this for some time now, is going back to that same property 10, 15, 16 times in a year to just remind the property owner.” Members of the council did not doubt there was a problem, but some worried about the language in the new legislation. Councilwoman Laura Mitchell took issue with the change in designation from “habitual offender” to “chronic nuisance property,” though Council President Jake Day said that he only sees it as a matter of semantics. Mitchell also worried about how fair the ordinance would be to property owners who are renting to troubled tenants. “There’s only so much that a property owner can do to ensure that somebody is going to do what they’re supposed to do according to the lease,” she said. Stevenson admitted that the legislation isn’t perfect but said that some flexibility should be left with the administration to address the issues Mitchell worries about on a case-by-case basis. “We can probably resolve quite a few of these in-house,” he said. Other proposed changes include a removal of any language referencing homeowners or renters. Instead, all properties will fall under umbrella terms and both commercial and residential sites will be affected by the legislation. The council asked Stevenson to work with city attorney Mark Tilghman to tweak the language of the ordinance to better define how penalties will work and a few other corrections. The revised ordinance is scheduled for discussion at the council’s next legislative session. LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP! 2014 MEMBERSHIP SPECIAL 10% Discount in Pro Shop Merchandise Access to Official MD Handicap System Eligible for Member / Member & Club Championship Tournament Discounted Driving Range Fee Players Fee $25.00 $195 One Year (includes: an associate member player card, a $200.00 value good for 8 rounds of golf( walk or ride) $350 Two Year (includes: an associate member player card, a $400.00 value good for 16 rounds of golf (walk or ride) LIMITED NUMBER OF MEMBERSHIPS AVAILABLE SIGN UP BY SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 TO RECEIVE THE BENEFITS