City sends letter to mayor

The City of Whitehouse has sent letters to Mayor Jake Jacobson and landlord Larry Roquemore, advising them that the property Roquemore is leasing to Jacobson cannot be used as a place of residence.

"It's zoned business," said council member Gene Champion. "The city has sent a letter to Larry Roquemore making him aware of this."

Champion said the same letter had been sent to the mayor. At press time, Mayor Jacobson said he was aware of a letter, but had not received it.

"The city sent it to the wrong address. I've asked Mike Peterson to resend it," said Jacobson. Peterson is the city's code enforcement officer.

Peterson said he could not discuss the contents of the letter since Jacobson had not received his copy, and Champion said he had not seen the actual letter and was not aware of its content beyond the confirmation that the property was not a legal residence. "The rest we'll follow-up at council," he said.

When asked if he or any other council member had contacted the state attorney general for guidance on the issue, Champion said he had not, but did not know for sure if anyone else had.

"I really don't believe that's going to be necessary," he added.

Jacobson was asked at last month's council meeting to confirm that he was living in the Whitehouse city limits. This followed his statement at the September meeting that he was going through a divorce but had found a place in Whitehouse.

Jacobson said at the October meeting that he was living within the city limits, but the physical address he gave turned out to be zoned commercial, leading council member Mike Adams to ask the city to research the zoning issue.

"He's said this is pretty temporary until he's found another place to live," said Roquemore. "I don't really see a problem."

Roquemore added that he thought there were other WH residents living in similarly zoned areas.

Peterson responded that there were two locations in the city that had living quarters for a nightwatchman or caretaker. He was not sure if they were currently occupied or not. He also said that the owners of a new business were allowed to live on site during the construction phase of their business, for security, but now that the business was in operation, they had received the same letter as the mayor.

"If somebody is living in the back of their business, there's no way for me to know unless somebody tells me," said Peterson. "There's no way to be proactive in this, you have to be reactive."

The Whitehouse City Council meets Nov. 27 at 6 p.m.