Don Redmond of East Market Street in Mercer is worried about rats coming near his home. "I caught a rat as big as a rabbit," he said. "Oh my God, it was huge." Redmond blamed the problem on a neighbor who doesn't keep up the property.

Mercer council is slowly taking steps to handle that situation, but an ordinance in the works created to deal with property maintenance was tabled for the second time Tuesday while council works out the kinks in it.

"We get ourselves in trouble when we try to push things through and rush things through," Councilman Ted Isoldi said, after asking questions about some of the particulars in the ordinance, such as dealing with properties with high grass and how to deliver warning letters to property owners.

Although a borough ordinance covers the accumulation of garbage and refuse on properties, there isn't one to cover buildings in poor condition and the accumulation of junk cars. The new ordinance will also update one from the 1930s concerning overgrown brush and weeds.

Council did decide to have police cite at least seven property owners who have problems with refuse accumulation and dangerous structures. Among them is the owner of a garage on East Beaver Street that a zoning officer said is ready to fall down.

A citation against property owner Richard Kress of 421 E. Market St. for refuse accumulation was recently dismissed because it was filed under the wrong ordinance, but police say they will soon refile it. Kress had told The Herald in October that he should have his own say on his own property.