Dog Park Committee seeking non-profit partner

The Hampton City Council met for their regular meeting on Thursday, February 10.

Carol Harrison, representing the newly formed Hampton Dog Park Committee, updated the council on their activities. The seven member committee is in the process of writing grants and looking for an organization to join with that can act on its behalf as a non-profit organization in order to avoid the lengthy process of applying for 501c3 status.

In other business, council member Jim Davies presented the council with the 2021 Annual Report form the Hampton Historic Preservation Commission. Davies reported that the historic society has largely resumed their regular activities and is looking at ways to increase the usage of G.A.R. Memorial Hall.

In employee reports, Police Chief Bob Schaefer reported that some nuisance citations have gone to court and that his officers have been cracking down on cars in yards. Residents are reminded that although cars may be parked in yards in order to get them off the street during a snowfall so that plows can get through, those cars must be moved again in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Public Works Supervisor Doug Tarr reported on rental property inspections, specifically on some recent inspections that showed residents living in potentially dangerous conditions due to lack of maintenance from the renter, including one case where law enforcement and DHS was notified.

"It was unsettling," said Tarr. "And I'm seeing a lot of this."

Tarr noted that the city is limited in what they can do in these situations, particularly due to the limited resource they have to perform rental inspections, but wanted the matter brought to the council's attention anyway.

Finally, in council reports, council member Dick Lukensmeyer reported that several trees have been taken down from the courthouse while council member Barry Lamos brought up the idea of looking at the city's hotel/motel tax to see if it should be increased.