SOUTH POINT —  Two ordinances were passed at Tuesday’s meeting of South Point’s council, with the hopes of improving the appearance of the village.

Members of council voted to suspend the three reading rule and approved two ordinances which would allow the village to crack down on

“Inoperative and abandoned vehicles” and debris and building materials on property for “an extended period of time.”

Both passed in a unanimous, 6-0 vote.

Before passing both, council member Chris Smith asked police chief Chris Mahjer if he saw any issues with the proposed ordinances, as far as enforcing them.

“I don’t see anything that jumps out,” Mahjer said.

The council also revisited the issue of an ordinance focused on noise and disturbing the peace.

Since last month’s meeting, village solicitor Randy Lambert had made changes to the proposal in writing, but had not presented a typed version to council yet.

Council member Mike Lynd took issue with one section, which he said could be misinterpreted.

“If you blow your horn and wave at your neighbor, you could get a ticket,” he said.

That scares me,” he said, if the matter were left up to interpretation of officers.

Lambert replied that the language said this would apply to only to signals for “an unnecessary and unreasonable amount of time.”

“Like if someone was upset and went outside and laid on the horn,” he said. He also said that there would be an exception for a “danger warning,” such as if someone held a horn down to warn someone of an approaching train.

Lambert said the specifics about the “unnecessary and unreasonable amount of time” required to cite someone for noise would be put in capital letters for the final copy, which Mayor Jeff Gaskin urged the council to bring to a vote at the June meeting.

In other business, the council:

• Voted for second reading on an increase in pay for the mayor. As Gaskin has pointed out, this would be applied to the next mayor and he would not receive the raise.

• Voted to give $4,000 to People for the Point for the Independence Day weekend fireworks celebration.

“You can’t find a better display around here,” Gaskin said the celebration. “This will make it even better.”

• Heard from village administrator Russ McDonald, who said generator work at the sewage plant is “80 percent finished” and the project should be finished in coming weeks.

McDonald said there had been no breaks in water lines reported in the past month and that the village had pumped 22 million gallons of water and 24 million gallons of sewer.

He said slip repair was complete on Solida Road, as well as pothole work throughout the village, and that a restriping project would begin soon.

• Heard from police chief Chris Mahjer, who said he has been told Ammo, the department’s K-9 would be ready for state testing by the beginning of summer.

Mahjer also said he would provide packets to council members on a proposed increase in fines for citations and offenses. He said these have not been revised since 2010.

• Heard from fire chief Mark Gooddall, who presented several proposals for acquiring a new fire truck for the village.
He said the department prefers the option of a “top of the line, custom pump truck,” which would cost about $350,000 after a trade in of an older truck. Gooddall said he is looking into financing options.

He said the main benefit of the truck is more room in the cab, which would allow fire crews to put gear on while on their way to a fire and be ready to go when they arrived.

• The next meeting of council is 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4.