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By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

Billy Ray appeared to be a tired man as he stood before Elizabethton City Council during the citizen comment time at Thursday night’s regular meeting.

The Orchard Road resident said he was tired of the tires and the blood-sucking summer pests that have kept him and his children from experiencing normal summer activities.

“I bought a grill the first of the summer,” Ray said. “I’ve used it one time. I can’t go outside and grill a hamburger. I can’t sit on my front porch. My kids can’t use their trampoline. I can’t go outside and throw a ball to the dog.

 “You cannot walk outside for mosquitoes,” he said. “Mosquitoes will absolutely eat you alive.”

Ray told council members he is aware mosquitoes are a common pest during the summer, but he maintains an area business – Birchfield Tire and Recapping, 1308 W. G St. – is making matters worse with a mound of “200-plus tires stacked up” collecting water from the season’s rains.

Ray said he called the business in June to “try to diplomatically voice my concern about the tires,” but the person he spoke with said “it wasn’t their problem.”

Ray said he then called the City of Elizabethton Codes Enforcement and was told “it’s been an ongoing problem for years” and the business would be contacted. The West End resident said he had made 13 phone calls to city offices, including a “10-minute conversation” with Mayor Curt Alexander, who also told him it had been an ongoing problem for years.

“It’s absolutely terrible and I wish that somebody could come down there in that community and stand up there, wear shorts for 10 minutes,” Ray told council members. “Mosquitoes eat you alive.”

City Council members were given a petition that bore 32 signatures of people Ray said “live within a baseball throw, a stone’s throw, of Birchfield Tires,” calling for city officials to take action against the business to remove and dispose of all used tires from its West G Street property “for the purpose of the health of the community and mosquito control.”

“Nobody seemed interested in going down there and enforcing the code,” Ray said at one point.

Councilman Richard Barker said, “I am aware of your problem because I’m in the Kiwanis Club and it’s affecting Kiwanis Park as well.” The park is located one street over from the business.

“If you’re saying 200 tires, you’re probably being conservative,” Barker said, estimating there were 500 to 600 when he drove by recently.

The mayor asked City Manager Daniel Estes what actions could be taken, because the situation was an “eyesore” as well.

Estes said he had spoken to staff about the issue and there are a “couple of different avenues we’re going to try to undertake.”

“One is traditional code enforcement,” Estes said, including an ordinance against stagnant water on a property. “There’s a limited amount we can do under fire code, but once the stack gets past a certain point then it becomes a fire risk.”

The city manager said officials will first ask the business to come into compliance.

“We’ll take it through the channels and see the best we can do,” Estes said. “If it’s ultimately to the city attorney to be taken up in Municipal Court, we’ll do that.”