City squabbles over junk

ELECTRIC CITY — A new sign welcomes motorists to Electric City.

Emblazoned on an old 40-by-60-foot tin storage building owned by the town's recently ousted attorney, the bright orange lettering is sure to receive more than a glance.

"Welcome to Electric City, 'the ugliest town in the west.'"

Former attorney Wayne Svaren, who painted the greeting, said he doesn't believe the town is the ugliest in the west.

"Frankly, I never thought of Electric City as the ugliest," Svaren said. "That's just a quote from one of our esteemed local citizens. That's why it's in quotation marks."

That citizen, Carl Russell, coined the phrase at a town council meeting earlier this year.

Mayor Raymond Halsey, who has reigned as mayor for more than 30 years, said town officials are unable to diminish the sign's presence.

"It's free speech, that's what the attorney says," Halsey said Thursday.

The mayor said he briefly visited Svaren this week and joked with him about the sign.

"I said he missed his calling, he should be a sign painter," Halsey said. "That's all the discussion I've had with Mr. Svaren."

Svaren said there was more to their conversation.

"I responded that he probably missed his calling, too, he should have tried being a mayor," Svaren said.

Sparks first began to fly between Electric City officials and Svaren when he received $1,000 in citations for allegedly violating the town's nuisance ordinance. Officials enforcing the ordinance in January determined he had unused and abandoned vehicles along with some auto parts in front of his home at 51 Pearl Ave.

Svaren, who still serves as the attorney for Grand Coulee and Coulee City, plans to contest those citations in court. He contends the vehicles are neither abandoned or unused. Two classic trucks and a front body clip to one truck were in front of his house when the citations were issued, he said.

Since town officials first warned him in October of the alleged nuisance ordinance violation in front of his home, he began moving vehicles to his storage building and property at 202 and 206 Coulee Blvd. Town officials claim the vehicles continue violating the ordinance, whether they sit in front of his home or in front of his storage building across town.

On Sunday, town officials cited Svaren $2,000 more for stockpiling six old vehicles, a vehicle frame and trailer frame in front of what he calls his "sign" and storage building. Coulee Boulevard serves as a high-traffic entrance into town and Svaren's vehicles are clearly visible from the road. Eleven other vehicles fill his storage building.

With the addition of Sunday's citations, Svaren's total nuisance ordinance fines reached $3,000.

Meanwhile, Svaren filed some complaints of his own. One against the town's code compliance officer and one against the town's deputy clerk. Svaren claims both violated the nuisance ordinance. He filed the complaints Jan. 31, but the mayor has not begun an investigation.

Councilman Troy Ritter said the complaints against the code compliance officer's allegedly junky yard will be investigated.

"I don't know how big the stack of complaints is," Ritter said. "When they come in they go to the bottom. I don't know what their turnaround is.

"If I was the mayor and in that loop it would be a different story, but I'm not," Ritter said.

Halsey confirmed he has not investigated those complaints.

"I'm not doing anything different than I do on all the others," Halsey said. "I'm not taking any extra time or anything."

Town councilman Jerry Sands complained about the nuisance ordinance enforcement procedure. He said nuisance ordinance violations are only investigated after written complaints are submitted. If no complaint is given, no investigation will occur and no citation will be issued.

Halsey said any change to the ordinance needs to be initiated by the town's council.

"That would be up to the legislative branch," Halsey said.

So far, the council has not moved to adopt changes to the ordinance, Halsey said.

Ritter, a five-year member of the town council, said it's time to rewrite the ordinance.

"We're going to completely redo our ordinance," Ritter said. "We've taken one from another community and we're going to adopt it, because it's way better than the one we have."

He said the council has begun the process of making changes and may adopt them at the next council meeting.

"I don't intend to role over and play dead for these people," Svaren said. "I don't think I'm violating any law, at least not any law that has any constitutional stature."

Svaren argues he has no intention to give up his claim to a single vehicle. He says they are not abandoned, they remain on his property and he put them there intentionally.

"Their ordinance has an unconstitutional component, which they should know by now," Svaren said. "But they're just plowing on ahead. They're wasting the cops' time, they're wasting my time and they're making themselves look stupid."