The Montevallo City Council held a public hearing to discuss the adoption of the 2012 International Property Maintenance Code Aug. 26 at Parnell Library. The purpose of the meeting was to hear from members of the community about their opinions on the code.

Mayor Hollie Cost opened the meeting with a brief statement, and then allowed any individuals that wanted to make a comment or ask a question to take the floor. Over 85 homeowners and renters were in attendance, and the opinions about the code were overwhelmingly negative.

“I believe this code needs to be studied, tabled, and not adopted,” said Mitchell Spears, Montevallo resident.

Each person was given three minutes to speak, and every question was written down in order to be answered at the next City Council meeting.

“The purpose of this code is to provide city code enforcement personnel with an up-to-date, comprehensive and legally binding means of governing the maintenance of buildings existing within the city of Montevallo.” Description from cityofmontevallo.com.

However, the community was passionate about their disagreement with how the code was written and how the code would be carried out.

When Josh Smitherman, Montevallo resident and business owner, asked for an unofficial vote by the raising of hands, no one raised their hand in support of the adoption of the code.

“I think we can come up with something better,” said Vicki Jones, Montevallo resident.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Mayor Cost echoed this belief, “Overall, I was glad to see how passionate the community is about this. I think the intent of the code was misunderstood, but we have to make some changes.”

The next City Council meeting will be held on the fourth Monday of the month at 6 p.m. Because of the large turn out, the meeting will be expected to be held in Parnell Library once again.

Links to chapters of the code can be found on the city of Montevallo website or a full copy can be picked up at the Town Hall.