Targeting landlords

Scott City's K&R Estates isn't visible to the casual motorist passing through.

The view of the mobile home park off the south side of Main Street is commonly obscured by trains rumbling down the tracks that run the length of the city.

But venturing off Main Street and into the mobile home park will reveal a plethora of eyesores -- mobile homes with busted windows and trashed underpinnings, couches and other debris sitting on porches and other sights any visitor would find unattractive.

These are the kinds of eyesores the city government has been on a campaign to clean up over the past two years. As warm weather approaches, the campaign will intensify, as yard nuisances like tall weeds become more common. This year those who live in rental properties like the lots at K&R Estates won't be the only targets of notices and tickets from the police department. Landlords will be targeted, too.

"If a landlord is going to continue to put people in these properties that will junk up the property, we're going to put the onus on the landlord," police chief Don Cobb said.

Rental properties with yard nuisances like high grass and debris, while a minority, are easily found, he said, though he declined to name problem landlords. Police find themselves visiting the same places for nuisance violations time after time, sometimes regardless of changes in the renters.

"Out of 1,827 residences in this city, I'd say there are 1,700 we've never been to, which is great," Cobb said.

At a recent city council meeting Mayor Tim Porch said "this is going to be the most aggressive year we've seen on nuisances."

The more aggressive pursuit of nuisance violators is coupled with the city's ongoing battle against unsafe structures. Last year nine structures were condemned by Scott City, with seven of them brought into compliance with city code by the owner, one torn down by the city and one torn down by the owner.

K&R Estates has both nuisances and condemned structures. On Tuesday workers were tearing down the remains of a condemned mobile home, just a few feet away from a home that was recently served notice for nuisance violations and another that is in the condemnation process.

However, city officials say K&R Estates owner Jerry Friese is working with them to fix the situation. The mobile home being demolished and removed Tuesday was one that had sat partially demolished -- no more than a pile of torn-up building materials -- for weeks. But Cobb said after being compelled by the city, Friese has worked quickly to get the mess cleaned up in a few days.

No overnight fix

Friese bought the mobile home park last year and inherited most of the eyesores there. Cobb said the past six months have seen great progress made in cleaning up K&R Estates.

"It didn't get in the shape it's in overnight, and it's not going to get better overnight," Cobb said.

Repeated calls to Friese were not returned.

Cobb's chief nuisance abatement officer, Dave Ellis, said working with landowners like Friese to fix problems is much more effective than just going through the court process to compel owners to clean up their properties. Some property owners may be elderly and not in physical shape to clean property up by themselves, Ellis said. In those cases, the city may reach a deal to clean up the property using inmate labor and bill the owner.

If the city can't work with the homeowner, the most effective tool to clean up a mess is a tax lien, he said.

When Ellis writes a notice for a nuisance -- broadly defined by the city as any debris on a lot in the city limits, high grass or junk automobiles -- the property owner and tenant have seven days to abate the nuisance. If action isn't taken in that time, a ticket and a fine are issued.

But the court process, like the condemnation process, can take several weeks. So the city will often clean the nuisance itself and put a tax lien on the property. The lien becomes the landlord's burden.

Some landlords welcome the city's campaign -- including targeting landlords along with tenants -- as a step in the right direction toward cleaning up the city and preserving property values.

Dave Cherry owns 12 houses in Scott City under his company, D-Mac Properties. Cherry said his tenants haven't presented nuisance problems, but that if they did so without his knowledge, he would welcome a notice from the city government advising him of the situation.

"I don't want my property cluttered up, and I don't want it looking like an eyesore," Cherry said.

Lynda Carter, manager of Chaffee-based Sprenger Properties, agrees with Cherry.

"I would rather know about the problem, because I'm going to have to clean it up eventually," she said.

The city government doesn't care who cleans the messes up, as long as someone does. If that means holding landlords as responsible as they hold tenants, then so be it, said Ward 2 Councilman John Crail.

"Ticket these people!" Crail said.

The city also keeps a list of repeat offenders. Porch said there will be "no remorse for anybody who's been warned before."

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182