The Auburn City Council voted Monday night to keep the current mobile home regulations, which are very detailed and strict, in place.

The council had agreed to take a look at the ordinance governing the placement of mobile homes in the city at last month’s meeting. A couple of people had expressed interest in placing a mobile home in the city but they thought the regulations went too far. Mayor Dewey Roche said the main area of concern was the requirement that the mobile home be bricked from the bottom to the top.

“If we enforce that brick part, that will pretty much mean no more trailers,” Roche told the council.

“We really haven’t been enforcing that, but we haven’t really had any problems,” Roche added.

Council member Gayle Gregory pointed out that it had been a while since anyone had wanted to put a trailer in town so they hadn’t needed to enforce it.

Some Auburn residents were on hand to hear what the council had to say about this issue and offer their comments.

“If there is an ordinance, it needs to be enforced,” said Nancy Dinsmore.

Cody Anderson explained that he wanted to put a mobile home on his father’s property in town for a while so he could save money to purchase land later. But, he said, there was no way he could afford to brick the trailer and the fact that had to be done was never brought up when he began looking into the situation.

Council member Mike Hughes asked Anderson if he was given a copy of the ordinance and he said he was.

Roche said perhaps they could let Anderson place his mobile home and say that his was the last one and then they would begin enforcing the ordinance.

Council member Craig Offutt said that would just open it up to others and would not really be fair.

“I just want to know what I’ve got to do,” Anderson said.

Hughes said he had talked to several people about changing the ordinance, and “the overwhelming majority of those I’ve talked to want to keep it the same.”

The council then voted to keep the ordinance as it is and make sure it is actually enforced. Hughes said they should no longer issue permits to place mobile homes in the city limits without also getting a surety bond to make sure all the necessary work will be done.