MOHAWK - Complaints from several areas of the town have prompted the Town Board to revisit the town's maintenance law.

The board passed a resolution at Thursday night's meeting instructing Code Enforcement Officer Ronald Hinkle to recommend changes to the town's existing law for next month's meeting, giving the board the opportunity to go forward with revisions.

Supervisor Edward Paton said the law hasn't been updated since 1997.

"There have been some problems out there that the maintenance law doesn't cover them, and I don't know how we would cover them," he said.

After receiving complaints about a resident who had several boats on his property, Town Clerk Kimberly Sullivan called Glen Town Clerk Roxanne Douglass about that town's maintenance law to get some ideas for what Mohawk should do.

She said Douglass sent her the regulations concerning junk and junkyards.

"It's very frustrating for people, she said. "Ron would like to go over there and there's nothing in [the law]."

Councilwoman Bette Papa said while she was out, she heard "all kinds of complaints and I told them we're working on updating the thing."

Iris Smith, who lives on Mohawk Drive in Tribes Hill, said she has photographs dating back more than nine years of a neighbor who has recreational vehicles and trailers on his property. She said she thought people needed to have permits for a recreational vehicle or a boat on a trailer. Several, she said, have license plates on them that date back to the 1980s.

"The thing of it is, we have RVs, camping trailers and have cars," Smith said. "We cover them with tarps to cover them up. Now, we have rubbish on the trailers."

Sullivan said she believes the penalty portion of the law is OK.

Councilwoman Nancy Collins suggested a timeframe for Hinkle to bring recommendations back to the Town Board.

"That way, we can bring it some closure and it won't just hang out there," she said.

Mike Zummo covers Montgomery County news. He can be reached by e-mail at montco@leaderherald.com.