Mills County resident Troy Granger urges action after repeated incidents near group-home properties

At a Mills County board meeting, resident Troy Granger urged officials to act after what he described as repeated safety incidents and heavy vehicle traffic tied to several group-home properties in his area. He said he has dash-cam and surveillance footage, log files and photos documenting episodes he called "constant," and that "we've had three so far this year" with other occurrences dating back to 2023.

Granger described a recent incident in which he said deputies were present and a person was struck: "There's a nice picture with two deputies, a guy getting punched in the face with the kids out front of the neighbor's house watching this," he said, offering the board the video and logs as evidence. He also said providers sometimes fail to report incidents to law enforcement and that, on one occasion, a healthcare provider drove away after almost running his mailbox into the ditch.

Granger told the board he believes an out-of-state company "out of New Jersey" has been investing in properties in rural parts of the county and questioned whether those facilities should be located so far from medical services. He suggested regulatory options such as creating an excessive-use permit — to charge operators who cause heavy truck or vehicle use on county roads — or adopting an ordinance so businesses that generate substantial traffic would pay for related road maintenance.

The board received Granger's materials and audio-visual evidence and thanked him for bringing the information forward. No formal action on ordinance language or road-use permits was taken during the meeting; Granger offered to provide the video and supporting documentation to staff for follow up.