BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Lake Butler officials talked about the need to enforce building codes for commercial properties and prevent vagrants from occupying vacant buildings.
Bo Bayer brought up the topic during the city commission’s May 20 public comment period. He said that for two days recently, an overpowering odor was coming from a building formerly occupied by Sunrise Laundry.
“I get my gas there,” Bayer said of Sunrise Grocery, which is next to the vacant structure. “I like the people, but that place in the back and the old little pizza place over there needs to have a door put on it. And around back needs to be cleaned up.”
Bayer added that during inclement weather, vagrants seek shelter in the building without a door.
Commissioner Joe Stephenson, who attended the meeting by telephone, said he had already talked to the property owner about the problem.
“I’ve talked to the owner of the Sunrise and told him that he needed to make an effort to get rid of all those people,” Stephenson said. “I’ve talked to the owner…no less than four times, and he said he’ll take care of it. He would run out there. He would do something, and then the next day they’re back again.”
The commissioner added that the sheriff’s office told him it cannot arrest people for trespassing without a complaint from the property owner.
City Manager Kim Hayes told commission members she would talk to Sheriff’s Captain Lyn Williams for clarification on enforcing trespassing and the possibility of posting “No Trespassing” signs on the property.
City Attorney John E. Maines IV said the signs would allow law enforcement to bypass warning individuals before arresting them for trespassing.
Commissioners said vagrants moving from building to building within Lake Butler is an ongoing problem, with some frequenting city parks after hours.
Mayor Melissa Hendrix said one individual has, in the past, loitered at Fletcher Myers Park, the park next to City Hall.
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