Frost City Council members heard concerns raised at their meeting last Monday night regarding letters sent to residents based on complaints from neighbors about yard clean up.

Some say fight fire with fire, and by the sounds of it, neighbors in Frost will be fighting weeds with weeds.

Those Frost citizens have an issue with their City Council after receiving letters to have their yards cleaned up within 30 days after a well-known resident complained about their yards being in unkempt conditions.

City attorney David Frundt said the reason those letters went out to those who were not in compliance with the code were due to a complaint from a neighbor.

“We did this for consistency purposes,” said Frundt in regards to a letter that was sent to Elmer Soost back in July about multiple issues concerning his property.

The council knew the letters would be sent out, but said they did not know to whom and what the letter would say.

“We never got to see the letter,” said councilman Lee Lincoln. With that, the concerned citizens asked how the letter was sent out without the council viewing the letter.

“We put our full faith in the legalities that are involved in this issue with our city attorney. And at the time we asked for these issues to be addressed, we really didn’t put as much time as we should have into it,” said Mayor Brian Loge.

“We all agreed to get aggressive with these ordinance issues, and this is kind of a side effect of that. Our intentions had nothing to do with specific people,” stated councilman Jared Bruellman.

Bill and Mary Halverson were two of the many citizens of Frost that had concerns with the letter they received. One of the issues was very serious for Bill Halverson.

“We received photographs in the letter as well, and in order for these photos to be taken, someone had to have been trespassing on our personal property,” said Halverson.

The question then became why some residents were receiving letters while others were not. Frundt shared that it was due to complaints from surrounding neighbors.

“We all know who sent that complaint,” said Halverson. “You guys know we’re not the issue here, there’s someone else in our community that has much larger nuisance code violations than we do. Let’s address that first, then you can bother with our dandelions.”

Other citizens wanted to take a more direct approach on the issue, asking Frundt what it would take to get Soost’s situation in order.

Frundt said the city of Frost’s nuissance ordinance states that once a complaint comes in, the city begins taking action. The more complaints, the more of a concern it becomes for the city.

According to Frundt, this is the fourth time Soost has entered into agreements and tried to maintain his property, but has fallen back from doing so each time; something Soost could face jail time for.

Previously, Soost has had issues with maintaining his property, having inhabitable living conditions, along with a number of items on the property that have caused concerns for the city.

“It shouldn’t take big threats in a small town to get things done,” said Bruellman.

“The wheels of justice do take time and we are doing all we can within the means of the law to address everyone’s concerns. I understand people are upset, but we have to take this one step at a time,” said Mayor Loge.

The letters the Frost citizens received did not have any specified fees outlined if they did not take care of their nuisances.

“This nuisance policy could be 30 years old. Perhaps it is time we take another look at this policy and see where we can make positive changes,” said Loge.

“I also think we should have read the letters before they went out. We just didn’t expect such a response from the community members,” said Lincoln.

The council agreed that they would continue the process of nuisance violations but would also consider changing their policy in the future.

For some neighbors in Frost, it may mean tearing down structures, moving inoperable vehicles, and vacating premises that are not fit for living. For others, it will be as easy as plucking a few weeds.