The town of Cross Roads shored up its code of ordinances to better deal with substandard buildings during its Monday meeting.
The items in question dealt with the condemnation and demolition of a home at 1400 Oak Point Drive, which has been abandoned.
“There is an abandoned, dilapidated house in a subdivision, and we’ve had many complaints about it,” Mayor T. Lynn Tompkins Jr. said. “We did an administrative search warrant, went inside and it is infested with mold. There was a pool infested with mosquitoes—at one point the water was left on and was running out the front door. People don’t live there anymore, by the way, I should have said that first.”
Council unanimously approved the ordinance amendment prior to the public hearing and final order.
“This item is regarding our next item, but in order to deal with our next item, we have to deal with this item first,” Tompkins said. “We have a process in place to deal with abandoned, dilapidated, unsafe structures and in order to do things that make Matthew, our attorney, happy, we wanted to present this item to council.”
Earlier in the meeting, council member Stephanie Housewright took a moment to address the request she made that the council discuss the recent whistleblower judgment in the city of Celina, as Jason Laumer, the town’s current city administrator, who was attached to the city at the time of the case’s filing.
“My intention for bringing this to your attention is to ensure that we as council are appropriately assessing any reputational or governance risks,” Housewright said. “I understand that the matter was not added to tonight’s agenda, but I stand by the importance of bringing it forward.”
The final $1 million judgment saw Celina lose that case.
“[We need to address] any concerns that might affect our integrity, trust or the financial stability of the town, to acknowledge this has occurred, and to let our constituents know we are safeguarding our town to the best of our ability,” Housewright said.
Prior to the meeting, Tompkins shared the item had not been added because the agenda had already been set when Housewright requested it. Housewright maintained it remains an important issue to address at a later date.
