Dead trees getting City’s attention

By Randy Bell

The City is contracting for eight dead trees at a property on Lindale Drive to soon be cut down, with the property owner to be billed for the expense.

Millions of pine trees across Mississippi died after they were infested by insects following the severe drought in 2023. Some of those dead trees here in Clinton are in danger of falling onto homes or into streets, and the City is starting to order the trees cut down, declaring them a “menace to public health and safety.”

At the last two Board of Aldermen meetings, nuisance property items on the agendas have included concerns about dead trees.

After neighbors complained about limbs from a tree at a rental home on Angelia Drive falling on their property, the owner told the Board on May 20 she would have the tree taken down. At the next meeting on June 3, Director of Community Development Roy Edwards sought authorization to hire a contractor to cut down eight dead pines in a yard on Lindale Drive, with the property owner to be billed for the expense. Again, the City took action, after been notified by neighbors.

“There was a complaint,” Edwards says. And he expects more of those, as people realize this is something the City is willing to address if the property owner ignores the problem. “Most will call their neighbors first to try to take care of it,” he points out.

Edwards admits that having trees cut down can be expensive.

“Especially eight of them,” he says.

The City doesn’t cover the cost of removing a tree on private property.

“We can’t do that, unless it’s in the right of way,” said Edwards.