CENTREVILLE &045;&045; Members of a Centreville family took issue with aldermen Tuesday over a letter from town officials asking them to clean up their property.

Town officials said they recently mailed letters to at least three property owners asking them to improve the appearance of vacant houses and lots, or face having the cost of the cleanups added to their property taxes.

But Angela Dunn said her family’s vacant house on Fort Street was damaged by arson five years ago.

&uot;You’re going to charge them for cleaning up their property, but it’s not their fault,&uot; Dunn said.

Aldermen said they were not aware of the fire, or if an investigation was conducted to determine its origin.

Dunn also asked board members if they intended to ask other residents to clean up their properties.

&uot;There are numerous (abandoned) houses. I just went around the whole community,&uot; Dunn said.

Centreville Mayor David Owens said the letters were sent after complaints were received from local residents.

&uot;I don’t care whether you clean it up or not. I’ve got people living right next door to me that are worse than that, and I haven’t been doing any griping about it. Somebody else is doing this griping, and I’m not worried about it,&uot; Owens said.

Dunn said it’s impractical to expect her family to have the resources to haul away the remains of the burned house.

After further discussion, Owens said the town would haul the scrap materials away from the site if the family would place them by the roadside. Owens also said there would be no time limit imposed on the cleanup.

In other business, the board agreed to research the minutes of past meetings to determine if a one-dollar reduction in the town’s water rate is warranted since the town recently chose not renew its contract with Backflow Solutions Inc.

The board also agreed to open bids for roofing repairs to the Kevin Poole Van Cleave Memorial Library in a special meeting at 5 p.m. Monday.