During a gathering of the Lake Brownwood Bridge Community Group Tuesday evening, Brown County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy James Stroope provided those in attendance with updates and clarifications on the specialized operation (Operation Spring Cleaning) in the Shamrock Shores and Shady Shores area of Lake Brownwood.
The operation, which took place April 16, targeted property abatements that violated the Health and Safety Codes 341 and 343 – aimed at cleaning up properties around the lake to ensure a safe, healthy place for everyone to live.
The operation discovered 89 properties posed violations and deputies served 40 30-day notices advising the resident/property owner of the violations, and the deadline for compliance is drawing near.
In a video provided to BrownwoodNews.com from the meeting, Stroope told those in attendance Tuesday that citations were issued to properties with excess garbage.
“We came out here with the intention to issue warnings seeking voluntary compliance,” Stroope said. “We don’t feel we need hit people in the pocket, but now we’re coming up on the 30-day notices and now they’re fixing to find out we’re not playing and we’re going to come back out here and continue to follow up on those 30-day notices. Every day that violation exists is another violation.”
Stroope added, “I know we’ve had some bad weather and we’ve talked to folks and we see they’re trying and are making a little bit of head way, and we can give them a little bit of a grace period and work with them. But those that are being a thorn to this community and leaving an array of garbage laying around, it’s not time to play anymore.”
Stroope told those in attendance the decision to finally pursue action came after three different environmental officers patrolled the area and made several of the same observations.
“Nobody called and asked us to do this,” Stroope said. “I went through a training on leadership and I was sitting around thinking what can I do to motivate the Sheriff’s Office to be better public servants to the community than what we are.”