Deloris Lacey wants to buy a house on Magnolia Street, but the purchase is on hold until repairs are made.

Charles Butler has a car in his back yard, and he’s been told to move it or be fined $1,089.50.

William Robinson has a house desperately needing repairs at 1306 Grammar St., but he can’t afford to pay for the work.

These three cases and about 40 like them are the kinds taken before Municipal Judge Mack Varner’s Community Court. There, in the Municipal Courtroom of the Vicksburg Police Department, owners of properties across the city are trotted in twice a month — the first and third Tuesdays — to answer concerns voiced in writing by city inspectors charged with cleaning up Vicksburg and bringing private property up to community standards set by city zoning codes.

The court, established during the first mayoral term of the Laurence Leyens administration, has been in operation for six years.

“It’s been extremely effective,” said Varner, an attorney with Varner, Parker & Sessums who has been the court’s only jurist. “I think any citizen of Vicksburg can quickly see what a difference it’s made with the neighborhood cleanup and removal of abandoned cars.”

He and the main inspector, Edward David Miller, are quick to point out the city is not attempting to come down heavy on owners but is persistent in its pursuits.

“They have to understand — time is on our side,” Miller said. “They just have to make some type of progress.”

The system works like this:

* Miller or another code enforcement officer visits a property, either after being notified or seeing the problem on his own.

* A city letter to the owner outlines the offenses and summons the owner to court. If owners don’t appear, the court issues a subpoena.

* Failure to appear a second time means the owner can be held in contempt of court and arrested and required to pay bond and appear in Community Court.

* At each juncture, the inspector revisits the property to see if changes have been made.

* In court, owners often are given extensions based on situations discussed before the bench.

Last year, the city court handled 186 code enforcement cases, and about 90 percent were brought up to code as a result, said deputy court clerk Sue Robinson.

The court was the brainchild of Leyens, who has been noted throughout his seven years in office for putting a high value on property aesthetics.

“We can’t do the economic impact we want to do if we have big eyesores,” he said. Code enforcement “improves property value and stimulates the economy.”

He said, since the laws were already “on the books” when he became mayor, he wanted to enforce them. With as many as 80 cases a week, the political pressure of acting on the cases one-by-one became too much, he said. As a result, the city created the court. Employees with the zoning and inspection department went to Biloxi to see how a code court was run, said Victor Gray-Lewis, director of buildings and inspections.

“Many cities have them,” he said. “We thought it would be helpful if Vicksburg created such a court to help improve and bring (properties) into compliance.”

It costs the city an additional $604.18 a month to operate the court, said Strategic Planner Paul Rogers. That amount is what the city pays to Varner. All other employees receive salaries for duties that include, but aren’t exclusive to, those performed at code court, he added.

Leyens said as many as 30,000 cases are addressed by inspectors. And that number is down from before the court was begun because of efforts made through code enforcement, under the umbrella of the city’s inspection and zoning department. Many of the 30,000 cases, however, never make it to the court, because the issue is dealt with before it gets to that point.

“We’re giving them more opportunity to comply under the system,” Miller said.

Gray-Lewis said cases that eventually could end up in code court are considered criminal cases, because the judge is given the authority to fine or imprison property owners if compliance isn’t met. Other cases are taken before the Mayor and Board of Aldermen and are considered to be on the civil track, which means the board may authorize the city to cut, clean and demolish properties in return for a lien against the owner’s property taxes. The court, he said, has become an effective tool in getting owners to respond.

“It’s helped to improve property as the enforcement arm,” he said. “And it’s worked very well.”

Miller said he inspects about 20 houses each day to see if they’re up to code. Gray-Lewis said about 30 percent of the properties in violation of codes end up in community court. If Miller receives reports of a house in violation, he focuses on all houses in the area.

“I like to try to be consistent. I’ll get the whole neighborhood so people don’t say I’m picking on them,” Miller said.

He and other code enforcement officers are “people-friendly,” Miller said, and give property owners plenty of time to make improvements.

Lacey, who made her first court appearance April 1, told Varner she would need more time to mow the grass, put fresh paint on her home’s exterior and repair a fence on the property. She was given until May 6, the next court date, to begin work. When she appeared in court earlier this month, Miller told Varner that the house had been secured and painting had begun, both necessary steps to bring the property into compliance. Varner gave her an additional 30 days to complete the work. When Miller goes to inspect, as long as all work is complete, Lacey will not have to return to court and the fine will likely be suspended.

Some of the more common violations in the city are uncut grass and abandoned vehicles on people’s property. City code requires the vehicle be removed or that current tags be placed on it. Butler said the vehicle in his back yard belongs to his daughter and has been there for about five years. But, when he appeared in court last month, he agreed to have it moved.

“I don’t have a problem with them wanting to clean up the city,” he said.

For many residents whose property comes before community court, a lack of funds keeps work from being completed in the time allotted.

Miller has been working closely with Robinson to make sure — little by little — necessary repairs are made to his house on Grammar Street.

“People like this are trying to do something with their property. They’ve taken what little they have to try to bring the house up to code,” Miller said. “It’s being done slowly, but we’ll give them time — as long as I see some type of improvement.”

In situations where property owners are on fixed incomes or are unable to make improvements, the city will refer them to housing and community development, a department that offers a housing repair program through its USDA Rural Development Program. If a need is identified, Gray-Lewis said, the city will work with them through the judge to make sure they receive help.

Though citations are issued when property isn’t in compliance and issues have to be resolved in court, the judge often makes arrangements to have work completed and the fine is usually suspended, Miller indicated.

“It’s a no-money agenda. We’re not collecting money,” Leyens said. “We just want people to repair their property.”

Zoning Administrator Dalton McCarty, who inspects commercial properties in violation of the city’s zoning ordinances, said some business owners continually break rules that bring them back to court time and time again. And he suggested that stronger penalties might be the only way to enforce the laws and keep repeat offenders out of court.

“If we keep getting the fines up enough, that might get their attention,” he said.

Earlier this month, Leyens called a meeting to encourage employees to step-up code enforcement efforts by identifying more properties that need attention. He and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield plan to ride with code enforcement officers to help identify such properties. South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman said he regularly calls Gray-Lewis when he notices properties not in compliance, but said he won’t participate in the ride-alongs.