Support the Timberjay by making a donation.

Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Council treads lightly on fellow member’s blight issue

Keith Vandervort
Posted 8/19/20

ELY – The City Council here Tuesday was hesitant to immediately address a continuing issue involving one of its own members over blight at a residential property, and instead stood by a …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Council treads lightly on fellow member’s blight issue

Posted

ELY – The City Council here Tuesday was hesitant to immediately address a continuing issue involving one of its own members over blight at a residential property, and instead stood by a resolution they adopted late last year ordering remediation or summary enforcement.
Council member Paul Kess and his wife, Laurie, own an abandoned house at 106 E. Harvey Street that has steadily deteriorated over several years to the point where it was deemed a threat to public health and safety. An inspection conducted last September, due to a new complaint, found that the condition of the two-story dwelling fails to meet the minimum requirements of city and state building codes.
Based on recommendations from Ely’s building official Doug Whitney, the council adopted a resolution on Nov. 5, 2019, ordering several steps of remediation. While some of the blight conditions were corrected by a Jan. 1 deadline, another deadline passed last week without roof repairs being completed. And the city building official described additional blight conditions that have surfaced this summer.
Whitney presented his evidence of the uncompleted roof repairs and additional public safety hazard conditions Tuesday night and asked the council to weigh in.
“Now it is up to the council to decide what the next step is,” he said. “We can raze the building, fine (the owner) or give him more time.”
Whitney said that windows that were falling out last year were boarded over, but other windows on the dwelling are in disrepair. Loose siding on the house still exists.
Whitney then asked the homeowner if he had talked to any contractors about completing the work. Kess appeared disinterested in addressing the issue.
“I doesn’t matter to me whether I comment on this or not,” he said.
The building official appeared willing to give Kess another 30 days to get the roof work done if he had a roofer lined up.
Mayor Chuck Novak weighed in on the matter by saying, “Getting a contractor is tough up here.”
Whitney responded that more than a dozen roofs were installed on houses around the city so far this summer.
Novak asked for the council to proceed on the matter with a motion.
Council member Angela Campbell said, “I have a concern because the property has stood vacant for more than 10 years. The property is a hazard. I am concerned for those citizens who are walking the sidewalks. I am concerned for the adjacent neighbor. This can’t go on. It is unacceptable.”
Novak reiterated that he did not know what the next step should be because the council did not receive a recommendation.
“If we were in a big metro city, this would be a slam dunk because nobody knows anybody. Here we know everybody. That makes for a tough decision,” he said.
Council member Albert Forsman noted that decisions on other properties around the city in similar states of disrepair “have been pushed back.” He said that the council does expect results on these issues.
“Councilman Kess knows this. We can’t sit back idly forever on this,” he said.
Forsman said he was “not willing to take action” right now. “You have to find a way to get this done or show some progress on this. We have to be responsible to all of our constituents,” he said.
Council members continued to discuss the matter and the suggestion was made that the council could have regular updates on these issues from the building official. Whitney seemed to agree that he could provide periodic updates on progress of blight condition orders.
Council member Heidi Omerza asserted that it should not be the building official’s job to inform the council on progress.
“The onus is on the property owner to be contacting us. I don’t think this is Doug’s fault, is what I’m trying to say,” she said. “I’m not willing to wait much longer on this.”
Kess finally spoke up, saying he contacted “well over a dozen” roofing contractors.
“The coronavirus slowed everything down,” he said, and added that it is difficult “to promise a drop-dead date on someone else’s labor.”
City Attorney Kelly Klun reminded council members that they already issued an order on the property.
“Corrective action should have been taken by Aug. 15 or the city will move for summary enforcement of the order,” she said. “How fast the city moves on this is contingent on the clerk-treasurer and building official. From the council’s standpoint, you have already ordered it.”
During the open forum portion of the agenda at the end of the meeting, Kess’s neighbor Lottie Pinckney, of 114 E. Harvey St., voiced her opinion on the matter.
“I have monitored him since back in September,” she said. “He has accused me that my stuff on my property is in his way to do things. Well, I am not accommodating Mr. Kess anymore. He doesn’t have the gall to even talk to me about anything. There is no way he can do work without coming onto my property. I am not going to continue to accommodate him.”
Pinckney continued, “(Kess) doesn’t even live there. He uses it as his own personal storage unit. Rain has come down through the roof. Pigeons go in and out of there. My cat has caught all kinds of mice over there. For two months, he didn’t mow his weeds or lawn. I had to call on this several times. I’m sick and tired of looking at that place. I would rather it be razed. He’s had 10 years to do all this. And he’s a council member? I shame him all the time on Facebook and I will continue that. I would never vote for him.”
As he adjorned the meeting, Novak said, “This wouldn’t be happening if it was next door to me.”
The issue will be back before the council at their Sept. 1 meeting. The city clerk will likely move ahead with summary enforcement on the order unless an appeal is filed.