FARMINGTON – The town plans to refocus its efforts on enforcing junk vehicle laws this fall, Selectmen decided Tuesday.

And Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser plans to work with Town Manager Richard Davis to compile a list of businesses that haul salvage.

An unidentified community member has agreed to pay for an informational ad to help those in need of disposing junk vehicles find a hauler.

Selectmen had previously asked Davis to look into the costs and possible revenues involved if the town were to dispose of junk cars for private owners.

Davis had the town’s Public Works Supervisor Mitch Boulette look into it.

• Salvage hauler Gayle Ellis of New Vineyard would probably come in and get any vehicles that the town accumulated free of charge but Ellis would charge the owner $10 per vehicle disposed.

• The town would need to bring in at least 30 vehicles in order to bring in a crusher.

• Wrecker service would cost $40.

• Revenues from the junk vehicles could potentially be $5 per ton, which is what the town currently receives for scrap metals brought to the transfer station. This would amount to $15 to $20 per vehicle.

The town’s current Automobile Graveyard, Automobile Recycling Business and Junkyard Ordinance places a 90-day limit on storage of vehicles by businesses engaged in repair work.

As such, Davis wrote, the town would find itself continually disposing of vehicles as they reach the 90-day limit.

“While I agree wholeheartedly with the need to clean up junk vehicles in order to keep the town’s appearance up,” Davis said, “I would advise against municipal government involving itself in what is essentially a private problem. It is my opinion that a better route to follow is rigorous enforcement of the previously mentioned ordinance.”

Davis suggested Tuesday that a possible amendment to a zoning ordinance could require fences for aesthetic purposes for those who are not covered under the automobile graveyard ordinance.

State law requires that a person have no more than two unregistered vehicles on their property, with some exclusions including utility vehicles.

Selectman Mary Wright told Kaiser that the town really needed to get back to junk cars.

Kaiser had previously been on top of enforcing the graveyard ordinance until a landowner’s rental units violated life safety codes and Kaiser switched his focus to get rental buildings safe.

Wright told Kaiser if he needed extra help with enforcing the ordinance, he should hire someone because he has money in his budget.

Kaiser said he would refocus his efforts on getting people to remove junk vehicles from their property, if they’re violating the ordinance.

“It’s going to be an ongoing problem,” Davis said. “I’m sure it’s going to be an ongoing problem.”

dperry@sunjournal.com

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