The town of Hope now has new rules in place to crack down on properties cluttered with trash.

This week the Town Council suspended its own rules so it could hold both the first and final reading on a new cleanup ordinance. The ordinance requires that property owners and residents remove unsightly trash and debris.

Town officials said just over 50 percent of the town’s residents pay for a trash removal service. And while many of the rest haul out their refuse themselves, some people are simply letting it pile up. Some residents at the meeting complained about neighbors who have trash piled up to the windows of their home or heaped behind sheds.

Tabatha Tallent, who organizes an annual town cleanup day, said some residents are bringing six to eight truck loads of trash to each cleanup. And rodents literally come scrambling out of the old trash bags as they are put into a dumpster.

The new trash ordinance requires the town to notify property owners to clean up their mess, and if the debris is not removed within 10 days they could be fined up to $25 a day.

The town is also considering a town-wide trash collection service. That will be considered at the council’s next meeting on March 21st.