Scrutiny over the Blight Ordinances by the city has caused quite the ruckus with local residents.

County Commission Chair Florence Whitebread said there has been a sharp increase in the calls and visits to GIS (Geographical Information System) Director Troy Livingston’s office.

“Since the city has really come down on the blight ordinances…he’s had numerous people in his office [that are] living in the city that want to know their exact boundary lines so that they know what piece of their property they need to take care of,” said Whitebread.

Whitebread said that Livingston noticed the spike in the recent weeks because residents don’t want to face fines for overgrown yards and/or the grass clippings.

“I would imagine it’s that (the grass clippings) and whether it needs to be mowed – there’s areas where the weeds and grass get pretty high and they probably want to know a determination of whether it’s their’s or their next door neighbors,” said Whitebread.

The city has previously said that in an effort to work on the image of Junction City fines would be imposed for grass clippings left in the streets/sidewalks and for blights.