Beautifying a community doesn’t happen in one fell swoop, as discussed in June/July 2025 Evansville Business, but measures passed by city officials strive for long-term positive impacts.
One ordinance passed in July 2025 expands the Building Commission’s authority to collect different types of trash at properties flagged as nuisances. City Council President Ben Trockman says the commission cited limitations before — for example, it could pick up a rubber tire but not a wheel.
Such restrictions were removed, and the council in October upped penalties for the owners of trash-riddled properties, which Trockman says had been unchanged in about 15 years. Flat fines of $100 per unkempt property now can soar as high as $5,000 for the most chronic violators, with exact amounts tied to the tons of hauled-away refuse.
“We felt like with these two ordinances, it gives us the ability to pick up more trash, and if it’s a repeat violator, we have the ability to fine them more appropriately,” Trockman says.
Councilors in November also took aim at what Trockman calls “sign pollution.” As recommended by the Area Plan Commission, councilors reduced the maximum size of electronic message signs in commercial areas from 32 to 18 square feet, and increased the message duration of on- and off-premises signs from three to eight seconds. The same ordinance trimmed the maximum number of all signs. Trockman says councilors used rules in comparable cities as a guide.
Trockman, who represents the First Ward, says all new guidelines seek to move city beautification forward through both trash removal and “setting a better precedent for future developments.”
