Neighborhood Services staff introduced the town’s new division and described programs intended to help homeowners comply with local codes and dispose of household hazardous waste.

"Neighborhood services is a fairly new division for the town. We were only created in October 2023," presenter Tracy Lara said. Lara described four units in the division — code compliance, animal services, housing services and community engagement — and emphasized a toolbox-lending program that allows residents to borrow weed eaters, brush hogs and lawnmowers from the municipal office near the library.

Lara said the town is launching a household hazardous-waste pickup program: sign-ups will go live on the town website tomorrow for pickups that will occur in November; staff will collect items such as paint, pesticides and pool chemicals. "We've been getting a lot of requests for how do we get rid of our paint, how do we get rid of our pesticides, our pool chemicals," Lara said.

On code enforcement, Lara described the most common nuisance complaints — tall weeds, trailers or RVs parked in front yards, sign issues, abandoned vehicles, commercial vehicles parked in residential yards, open storage and accessory structures without permits.

Lara also described animal-services work on licensing, rabies vaccination tracking, cruelty investigations and barking/dogs-at-large complaints. She recommended licensing through the DocuPet program and said leash requirements apply: "You do need to have your dog on a 6 foot leash," Lara said.

Staff said they will take questions after the presentations and that community-engagement activities, such as HOA meetings and neighborhood cleanups, remain part of the division’s work.