With about 24 dilapidated houses awaiting demolition, city leaders feel the process to tackle the hefty list is taking too long.
But Richard Patterson, the city’s building inspector, said the wait falls upon Atmos Energy to release the properties’ gas lines.
Alderman Macklyn Austin noticed in Patterson’s recent report to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen that only one house has been demolished within the city in the last 30 days.
“That is the only house that Atmos has released,” Patterson said. “There is another one (614 Clay Street) coming up that I also just got released on last week.”
Patterson said it takes about one to two days to demolish a house after a notice is received from Atmos Energy to proceed.
“My biggest question is that we have got 24 properties that need to be demolished,” Austin said. “And we only get one done within a month. So, what is the hold-up?”
“Atmos Energy,” replied Patterson. “They are slow. They had some problems over in Jackson, and I think they have that resolved. I talked to the gentleman who is over their construction crews, and he told me last week that he would start having crews up here to start the process, retiring gas.”
Patterson said he provided a list of properties ready to be demolished to Atmos Energy on Dec. 4, 2024, which included over 20 houses.
“They determine which ones they go to,” asked Alderman Jammie McCoy. “You don’t determine which ones?”
Patterson replied that the Atmos representatives typically select the houses to be released in preparation for demolition.
“I think we would be better served if you would pick them because you know which ones are in an area,” McCoy said. “It has to be so many blocks between the last demolitions or we would have to have an asbestos test.”
Patterson agreed that McCoy’s suggestion would prove to be more beneficial to the city, adding that he would go over the list in detail with Atmos Energy.
“Just don’t let them pick it out, especially if it’s going to take them two or three weeks to get here,” McCoy continued. “You need to be the one letting them know which ones you need done. The best-case scenario would be them coming in here and doing two to three at a time. But until they get to that point, we would be better served if you picked the ones.”
Moving ahead without Atmos Energy’s gas release has proven to be an expense to the city in the past. Last November, the city of Yazoo City paid $1,663.67 to Atmos Energy for their “material, tools and equipment, labor and gas loss” after city work crews damaged an active gas line during a house demolition at 323 Martin Luther King Drive. Moving forward, city leaders agreed that demolition would not begin on future properties until Atmos Energy retired the gas lines.
However, city leaders remain concerned over the time dedicated to waiting on Atmos Energy.
“We have basically done four houses in the past five to six months,” said Alderman Charlie Jenkins. “We just need to keep working on that. We are not where we need to be.”
In other building department news, Jenkins praised the department for its recent removal of junk vehicles within the city. But he said there is still plenty of work to be done.
“I appreciate you getting that done, but we still have a lot of cars sitting directly on the street,” Jenkins said. “There are some on Madison Street that don’t even have tires, sitting on the streets. Those should be a priority to be moved. If we have an emergency, you couldn’t even get by because of those cars sitting in the street.”
