The Auburn City Council once again discussed enforcement of the mobile home ordinance at their meeting Monday evening. Resident Donny Anderson, who recently placed a mobile home in the city limits, was on hand to voice his opinion about the situation and see what the council had to say.

In July, the council agreed to reexamine the ordinance explaining regulations concerning placing a mobile home in the city because there were a couple of residents interested in doing so but believed the regulations were too strict. The main area of concern was the requirement that the mobile home be bricked from the bottom to the top.

In August, the council decided to keep the current ordinance in place and enforce it.

For Anderson, that meant making expensive improvements to a mobile home he had already placed in town.

On Monday, Mayor Dewey Roche told the council that things have been done, but the mobile home is still not in compliance.

“I’m here to listen and do what I can to get this resolved,” Anderson said. “Are you gonna make others brick theirs?”

Anderson said that if he had to be in full compliance with the strict ordinance, then so should every other mobile home in town.

The ordinance was written in 1990 and Roche said he didn’t know of any homes that had been placed in the city limits since then. Anderson said he thought there had been some brought in since then.

“To make one do something and not the others, you know that ain’t right,” Anderson said.

Councilman Mike Hughes said he didn’t think any had been brought in recently.

“I just know we’ve got to start enforcing ordinances,” he added.

Council member Gayle Gregory agreed.

“What we’re trying to do now is go forward with an enforcement we can live with,” Gregory said. “We’re not trying to make anybody mad, we’re just trying to do right.”

Ron McGee pointed out that Anderson had a copy of the ordinance from the start and knew what was expected.

Anderson questioned whether the city could start enforcing the ordinance with him or would they have to go back and enforce it on any mobile homes placed in the city since 1990 if there were any.

Roche said he would check on that with the city attorney and get back with Anderson on that.

In other news, Logan County Jailer Bill Jenkins made a presentation to the council about inmates doing work for the city. Jenkins explained what inmates can do and what they should not be allowed to do.

Jenkins told the council that inmates are provided a brown bag lunch when they are sent out to work, but sometimes the places they work will buy them food. When Auburn uses inmates for work, the city usually buys them food. Roche said he believed they deserved a good meal when they come out and work so hard and do a good job.

Council member Gayle Gregory questioned the amount of money the city spends on buying food for the inmates who come and work. She said the city spends about $1,200 a year on this expense.

“I don’t think the city should be paying for their lunches,” Gregory said. “They have food.”

Gregory said this was an unnecessary expense for the city and the money could be better used in other ways.

In other action:

• Hughes gave an update on the skate park which is up and running. They still need to add a sign and move some dirt. Roche said they are also still hoping that some of the local churches, businesses and individuals will donate money to help cover the cost of the skate park.

• Roche told the council that they are still moving forward with trying to get a senior citizens center build on property at the park.

• The council voted to not give city employees raises until the city has a budget in place which will probably be sometime after the first of the year.

• Roche told the council he had received a few complaints about horse manure in the streets and asked the council if this was a problem they wanted to address. The council said they understood the complaints but did not believe any action was needed at this time.