The Brookhaven Board of Aldermen and the city building inspector on Tuesday determined that some unkempt properties in the city are in such a state of uncleanliness or disrepair as to be a menace to the public health and safety of the community.

The city held a public hearing Tuesday night to discuss a list of properties for potential cleanup.

City Building Inspector David Fearn checks on properties that people have requested additional time to clean up. As long as progress is being made, owners of the properties have up to a year after the list is approved to clean up the parcels of land, said Fearn. The list will be approved in the next regular Board of Aldermen meeting on Oct. 6.

Cleanup work is done at the owner’s expense, however, and the process the city follows to cleanup these areas is spelled out by state law. Fearn said anyone who shows up can speak about why they do not want the city to intervene or what they can do to avoid being charged for the cleanup. The property owner is charged for the city’s time and services through a lien against the property.

Properties for which no person can be held responsible (owners have died, cannot be contacted, etc.), will have 30 to 45 days after the list is approved before the city moves forward with cleanup. This applies to the following parcels of land (listed with the 2014 taxpayer): 315 Georgia Ave., Claude Perry; 236 Molly St., James Earl Watkins; 113 Short St., Cassandra J Wells; 141 West Enterprise St., Kenneth Bowman; and 155 West Enterprise St., Ronald McDowell.

The following properties have been spoken for, and are either in the process of being cleaned up, have plans to be cleaned up or have made sufficient changes already: 925 Bryant St., Lamareo Brown; 750 Swalm Ave., Mary Washington; 302 Carter Road, Fred Daniel; 106 Weems St., Julia Rose Parker; 337 E. Chippewa St., Hazel Patterson; 805 South Second St., Gregory McNulty; 802 South Second St., Patricia Wilson; 630 Franklin St., Charles L. Brown; 700 Franklin St., Buren L. Jones; 531 Halbert Heights, Catherine George; 112 Weems St., Djuana Smith; 162 West Enterprise St., Melissa Mayberry; 611 E. Washington St., Leslie D. Smith and 330 West Court St., Joan Netterville.

Work on the properties to be cleaned up by the city will begin in mid to late November. Aldermen Terry Bates, Randy Belcher and David Phillips were absent for Tuesday’s hearing.

Residents who know of properties needing to be cleaned or torn down may report them to their alderman or the City Inspector’s Office directly.