City cracks down on unattended vehicles

Vehicles left unattended on public property in Kimball must now be moved in a shorter time frame.

The Kimball City Council voted at its June 2 meeting to consider vehicles abandoned if left unattended on any public property within the City of Kimball for more than six hours without a license plates or a valid in-transit sticker. The definition of vehicles also includes motor homes, minibikes and all-terrain vehicles. The council looked at this as part of a review of city ordinance 724.

“We’ve been going through a few things and just looking to update our abandoned and wrecked vehicles ordinance to meet state statute,” Mayor Keith Prunty said.

Storage hours changed from 72 hours to 24 to 48 hours for vehicles in any condition being stored on public property, depending on the allowable parking for the area.

Council member Christy Warner questioned how a vehicle purchased from a private owner is to be handled if it is not registered within the six-hour time limit.

“I called the county treasurer and they are not allowed to issue an in-transit sticker and they said it is illegal to just write one up and put it in there,” Warner said.

Kimball Police Chief Darren Huff said that all that is necessary is a bill of sale that is dated and signed by the seller.

“You can take it upon yourself at that point to make your own little in-transit and stick it in the window,” Huff said. “If you purchase a vehicle from a private party, you are obligated to put some sort of in-transit in your vehicle.”

Prunty said the city has sent out 10 letters to citizens regarding abandoned vehicles. Some residents have already removed the vehicles, he said.

Additionally, a donation prompted the council, city administration and the mayor to reconsider the allocation of the returned revenue from the Public Alliance for Community Energy, which has totaled more than $3,000, this fiscal year. The council originally designated those funds for flagpole lighting at the Kimball Cemetery, but the council reconsidered directing the monies for a specific purpose.

“A lot of people commented how nice the kiosk was,” Prunty said. “Maybe we could build a gazebo or some kind of permanent protection for our kiosk.”

“We have discussed the possibility of putting something up to protect the computer, because we don’t want anything to happen to it,” said Karen Bivens, a cemetery board member. “We also discussed putting something in front of it because during the winter time those roads get a little slick.”

Local business Hometown Hardware also donated a canopy to shield the kiosk and visitors from the rain over Memorial Day weekend.

According to Bivens, the cemetery board has also considered putting up two concrete poles or something similar to protect the kiosk from vehicle impact.

“Why don’t we, rather than putting it to something specific, why don’t we just say they use it as they see fit?” council member John Morrison asked.

The council voted to allow the cemetery board to use the funds for any capital improvement that it deems necessary.

The council also approved Prunty’s appointment of long-time Kimball resident Linda Williams to fill the unexpired three-year term on the cemetery board left by the late Ron Scott.

Additionally, City Administrator Daniel Ortiz, who was not present at the meeting, was appointed as an alternate representative to the Panhandle Area Development District Board of Directors. Ortiz will fill the vacancy left since Wilson Bowling resigned as the city’s economic development director.