After Great Bend City Sanitarian Gregg Vannoster reported on his office’s abatement and property cleaning efforts for 2012 at the City Council meeting, he said he is already back at it for 2013.
“We are ready for round two,” he said. So far this year, there have been 94 complaints, 13 lodged by citizens and 81 by staff. Of these, 10 have been taken care of by the owners, three abatement notices sent and seven cars removed.
Looking back at the past year, Vannoster said his crew tackled 951 complaints, with 677 being initiated by sanitation personnel. The breakdown of the types of violations are: Overgrown vegetation, 369; accumulation of refuse, 263; motor vehicle nuisance, 235, graffiti, 20; and trees, animal waste and littering, 36. There was also one case of illegal dumping.
He said 71 percent of the complaints were initiated by his department. The rest came from citizen reports.
The office sent out 271 registered letters in 2012 and performed 68 abatements, with over 70 percent being for overgrown vegetation. There were also 278 vehicles brought into compliance.
Sanitation also held its impound/surplus auction, and its first-ever citywide tire clean up. The clean up took place in October and netted about 10,000 old tires that were dropped off at the City Compost Site.
 Mayor Mike Allison and council members lauded Vannoster for his work. “Keep them coming,” Allison said.