The reason James Greer — owner of Union Auto Salvage at 1377 Jonesville Hwy. — did not appear before the Union County Council Committee on Planning and Development on Thursday morning was because he did not receive notification of the meeting.

Greer was issued a certified notice in December stating he had to bring his property — the location of his self-owned salvage operation — into compliance with the county’s junk yard ordinance within 120 days of that notification.

The committee was set to hear his appeal on Thursday but he was not present to state his side of the issue.

“Nobody even notified me about it,” Greer said Friday morning.

His neighbor — Steven Broadbent of 159 Ashley Acres — was present at Thursday’s meeting. He has submitted three complaints to the county since August and expressed his concerns about Greer’s property and how they were affecting him and his wife to committee members who assured him they would look into the issue immediately.

The county junk yard ordinance — which became effective July 1, 2009 — states a property owner must enclose wrecked vehicles in a building or fenced area as to ensure they cannot be seen by adjacent property owners or from the highway.

Union County Supervisor Tommy Sinclair said Thursday’s meeting was the second scheduled to hear Greer’s appeal. He said Greer was notified of the first meeting — which was set for a month prior to Thursday’s — however the property owner asked it be rescheduled to a later date as he couldn’t make it for the originally set date.

Sinclair said the meeting was not immediately rescheduled following Greer’s request to postpone his appearance before the committee but, unfortunately, once a new date was set Greer was not notified of it.

Greer claimed Friday county building inspector Brian Blackwell also didn’t know of the rescheduled meeting as of Monday morning when the two of them spoke.

“I didn’t know anything about a meeting,” he said.

Blackwell was present at Thursday’s committee meeting.

Sinclair, Blackwell and planning and development committee chair Tommy Flood visited Greer’s property Thursday afternoon to discuss the ordinance with him.

Sinclair said Friday afternoon another planning and development committee meeting will be scheduled for Greer to make his formal appeal to state his side of the issue.