OSKALOOSA — He’s faced with a clean and green challenge.

Oskaloosa Community Improvement Official Eric Dursky has only been working to help enforce city codes since July 20, but he’s made some considerable headway.

“We found that people did not like getting letters in the mail telling them they needed to clean something up,” explained Oskaloosa Police Chief John “Jake” McGee. “We wanted someone to explain the process to them.”

At Monday’s Oskaloosa City Council meeting, McGee summed up his achievements thus far.

When Dursky began, the Clean and Green Committee had already established a few priorities, said McGee. Number one, they wanted to clean up the major avenues and residential areas in town.

Trash, weeds and abandoned vehicles were also identified as problems when Dursky first began working for the city, according to McGee.

“Abandoned vehicles are a huge issue here in Oskaloosa,” said McGee. “Sixty vehicles have been removed from properties and I’m guessing there’s that many more to go, but we’re working on those. Some of these vehicles have been sitting around for 10 or 15 years and have not moved.”

As far as overgrown weeds and brush on some properties in town, McGee said often times this happens because a home has been foreclosed and its residents have moved out. He added, sometimes the residents are physically unable to maintain their property’s appearance, but that the city is willing to work with these residents.

Two things have made Dursky’s approach to city code enforcement a success, said McGee — education and consistency. In his short time so far in Oskaloosa, Dursky has made more than 1,000 contacts, visited 660 properties. Only 10 percent of these visits have been initiated by neighbors, said McGee. The rest have been self-initiated city code complaints.

After taking care of the initial priorities, Dursky divided the city into fourths and went through every alley and street of Oskaloosa looking for city code violations in August and into September.

Only 5 percent of those households visited required a second or third visit, said McGee. Just 2 percent have been served notices. This is all part of the educational approach Dursky has taken.

“These folks are working with us,” said McGee. “They’re taking care of it and they’re taking pride in their homes.”

Of course, the good group of people to educate on all things clean and green are Oskaloosa’s youth. McGee said a Litter Critter Patrol program is slated for use in the Oskaloosa School District this coming spring.

“I think we’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go,” McGee said.

In other business, the city council:

• Swore in Dave Krutzfeldt as mayor of Oskaloosa following a stint as interim mayor.

• Heard a report on the Early Childhood Learning Center from Beth Danosky.

• Made appointments to the Oskaloosa Library Board, Mahaska County Solid Waste Management Commission and Ad Hoc Recycling Committee.

• Approved an operational policy for the inclusion of sidewalk improvements in engineer design of city street improvement projects.

• Approved the first reading of an ordinance amending Chapter 10 vehicles and traffic.

• Approved the third reading of an ordinance establishing a three-way stop at the intersection of M Avenue West and North I Street.

• Approved a tax increment finance asking for fiscal year 2011.

• Approved scheduling a public hearing for levying special assessments against private property for weed cutting.

• Approved pay request number one from Peterson Contractors Inc. for the U.S. 63 North Underpass Project.

• Approved the first reading of an ordinance amending section 9.28.020 — throwing or shooting missiles.

• Approved a contract with Tyler Technologies Inc. in the amount of $69,975 to purchase an upgrade to the city’s financial management software system with a five-year maintenance agreement and associated computer hardware.

• Approved Amendment No. 1 with Garden & Associates for the North I Street and M Avenue West Reconstruction Project in the amount of $40,086, with a total not to exceed contract amount of $335,086.

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Herald City Editor Andy Goodell can be reached at news2@oskyherald.com