Hanceville leaders took the rare action of condemning private property this week, as the Hanceville City Council tapped its ordinance on derelict buildings to flag a pair of structures in the city for demolition.

At its regular meeting Thursday, the council voted to condemn a structure along Blountsville Street, as well as a structure along U.S. Highway 31. Each property owner will have 45 days to comply with the city’s order.

Passed in 2017, the ordinance in its current form gives the council power to condemn a structure and compel its owner to fund the demolition, leveraged by a potential lien against the property if the owner fails to follow through. Mayor Kenneth Nail said council members don’t lightly approach any private property condemnation, but added that neighborhood structures that are derelict, in the council’s view, detract from residents’ quality of life — as well as their property values.

“Nobody likes to do it, but these places have been an ongoing cleanup problem,” said Nail. “We’ve tried to work with these people and it’s just fallen on deaf ears. So the city’s going to take the legal action we need to — because it’s not right for residents at other properties to have to live near this mess and have it affect them.”

In other business at its regular meeting, the council:

• Recognized Hanceville Middle School 8th grade student Stephen Briscoe, who won the Cullman County Spelling Bee on Feb. 6 and will compete for the state spelling title on March 18.
• Approved a $41,000 invoice from the Cullman County Road Department for paving work done at the city’s new senior center. Associate county commissioner Kelly Duke and engineer Bryan Cheatwood were in attendance to explain the project’s scope and costs ahead of the council’s approval vote.
• Took no action on a drafted ordinance to create a city zoning category for tiny houses, with the council and city planning commission agreeing to meet at a public work session to discuss the proposed local law’s provisions in detail before sending it back to the council for a vote.
• Reviewed an annual report on the city’s allotment and expenditures made for fiscal year 2022 under the Rebuild Alabama Act, a legal requirement of the Act’s provisions for municipalities that receive state gas tax funds.
• Approved the minutes of the council’s Jan. 26 regular meeting.