The Duck Hill Board of Aldermen recessed on the matter of a mobile home in violation of the city’s ordinance to allow City Clerk LaSonja Sizemore gather additional information. In addition, the board decided to postpone moving forward on a grant with the Brownfield Group to allow further deliberation.
Jacqueline Eskridge went before the board of aldermen Monday night and explained that she purchased a mobile home from former Duck Hill Alderman Charles Sykes and moved it from Head Start Street to Rosemont Street. However, Eskridge is no longer in compliance with the town’s ordinance.
Eskridge said she has moved mobile homes in the city limits before and didn’t think it was a problem until she was hit with a citation from the town.
“I didn’t know anything about the new ordinance. No one presented it to me or told me anything about it,” she said.
Eskridge said she went before Duck Hill Municipal Judge Mary Brown, who told her that she had 30 days to move the trailer. However, Eskridge failed to move it within the 30 days and Brown issued a bench warrant for her arrest for contempt of court.
When Eskridge went before Brown again, Brown suggested coming before the board to see if they could help. Eskridge requested the board grant her an exemption because the mobile home was located in the town before the ordinance was passed.
Board Attorney Adam Kirk said that the town couldn’t issue an exemption to her because she had it moved. However, they could issue a variance.
“But, the thing about the variance is, if you issue it to one then you’ll have someone else coming before the board saying ‘You did it for them,’” Kirk explained to the board.
“If the judge said she had 30 days to move it, then she has to move it,” Alderwoman Lula Brown said.
Eskridge said the move happened last year during the peak of COVID-19 when many things were restricted, and she didn’t know if the board was still meeting. During COVID, the Duck Hill board met for its monthly meeting by teleconference and didn’t began meeting in person again until September 2020.
“You should’ve asked,” Brown said. “You should’ve came before the board before you did all of this.”
“So, does every mobile home that’s been moved after the ordinance was passed has to follow it?” Eskridge asked.
“Yes,” Brown said.
Eskridge said she knew of other homes in town that were moved and were in violation of the ordinance, also.
The board decided to recess until Wednesday at 6 to give Sizemore time to research the homes Eskridge named, see if the board has given any other variances and to see if the family came before the board.
Also, the board heard from Romona Williams and Sherry Weedman from the Brownfield Group about the Binford High School project.
Weedman explained the group could help apply for a grant up to $650,000 to remove the asbestos and lead paint from the building. What began as a casual conversation, turned heated with Mayor Al White and Kirk having to reign the meeting back.
The conversation turned when Weedman mentioned that in order for the town to move forward with the project, they had to transfer Binford to a nonprofit. And the assumption was it was going to be NMCUP [North Montgomery County United for Prosperity] and ASEEDS. And things, quickly went left.
There were questions over where funding went when ASEEDS did the drainage project on behalf of the Town of Duck Hill – which some board members said isn’t completely fixed.
The board decided to table the decision until next year to give them time to work out the details and decide if they wanted to do it.
