During the Nov. 14 meeting of the Holbrook City Council, Councilman Tim Dixon provided a Power Point presentation to show the graffiti that he located within the city while driving through the town in his personal vehicle and by driving the school bus.
He recognized the graffiti cleanup the police department has done and commended them for their efforts, but noted graffiti that had been overlooked. Photos of Lisitzky Park showed extensive graffiti that included profanity on the toys in the park “The majority of the poles are tagged all over the place,” he pointed out.
Other photos showed graffiti on a street sign and a city ordinance sign and also at Hunt Park. Dixon stated that he and Councilman CJ Wischmann went into the brick building shell next to the Empty Pockets Saloon and discovered not only extensive graffiti but also a man living inside the space in a tent who ran off after Dixon took photos.
Although there were not many incidents of graffiti reported in the past year, Chief Mark Jackson noted that some were cleaned without reports and City Manager Randy Sullivan added that city personnel had cleaned graffiti without reporting it as well.
“Police officers and city employees go by these areas every single day and I think there has been a system failure,” said Dixon. He noted that there was no graffiti present at Lewis Park and attributed that to residents looking out for their neighborhood and holding vandals accountable for their actions.
To address the matter Dixon provided a handout entitled “Graffiti Remedy,” detailing what the police should do to address the issue and also what city crews should do. It also included that disciplinary action may be enforced on an employee who does not follow the protocol outlined.
In response to the presentation, Councilman Richard Peterson recommended that Dixon and other people who see graffiti to speak directly with the city manager to have it remedied, as he had done so on other matters and with quick results.
He said that although Dixon’s “remedies” were good, he suggested the council direct the staff to determine how they will handle such issues. “I’m not comfortable with saying to an employee if you don’t find graffiti within one day, one week or one month we are going to punish you in some way,” he said.
He felt it better to ask the city to address the issue within their personnel policy and come to council with their plan and any additional resources they may need to ensure the work is completed.
Councilwoman Francie Payne agreed with Peterson, “The problem’s been identified, with pictures even so we all know if we didn’t before that we have a problem,” she said, adding that now that the city manager and the police chief have been asked to develop a plan of action, they along with the city employees, will need to be more diligent. She also said that council members and the citizens need to do their part as well and report graffiti to the city manager when they see it.
Dixon stated that reports need to be taken of every incident and individuals prosecuted and if it’s a child, their parents prosecuted. “We need to find out who’s doing it and hold them accountable. And not only them accountable, we know that with juveniles not much happens to them, but their parents held accountable for their children’s crimes.”
Vice Mayor Wade Carlisle said, “I like the motto ‘Nobody should wake up to graffiti’,” referencing Dixon’s presentation and based on the conversation that was taking place he made a list of how the city should proceed. He instructed staff to make a plan for identification and remediation of graffiti and to include a time frame. He instructed law enforcement to make it a priority to identify and investigate, and asked staff to develop a clean up process. The staff was instructed to come to the next council meeting with their plan and any resources needed to make sure that the graffiti is cleaned up.
