Village officials in Lisbon are cracking down on people who don’t keep their properties clean.

Mayor Peter Wilson says he gets dozens of complaints every year about people having too much trash in their yard. The village has had an ordinance against that for the past 30 years but will now start to take it more seriously.

“It’s an issue of public health...public safety and property values,” Mayor WIlson said. ”Mountains [of trash] and also all over their yard…whenever you have garbage or trash on somebodies property usually you're going to be accompanied by vermin, rats, mice, cockroaches.”

Homeowners with excessive amounts of trash first get a 10 day warning to clean things up. If they don’t comply they can be hit with a $100 fine or even jail time.

The village works with four companies to regularly pick up trash and also has a bi-annual collection day for bigger items. The mayor feels they’re giving enough opportunity to throw things out some people just aren't complying.

That's why the citations will be enforced more often in the future.

“We just want to make Lisbon as clean as possible,” Mayor Wilson said. “Lisbon's a great palace to live, like I say we want to attract residents, we don't want to lose existing residents.”

If someone sees a yard that has an excessive amount of trash they can report it by calling the Lisbon Police Department at (330) 424-7810.