The Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office forum Oct. 6 on how townships can deal with dilapidated nuisance properties started as an informative lecture on the process outlined in the Ohio Revised Code.
The Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office forum Oct. 6 on how townships can deal with dilapidated nuisance properties started as an informative lecture on the process outlined in the Ohio Revised Code.
About 30 township trustees and zoning inspectors took notes and asked questions for more than an hour.
When the last speaker, Assistant Prosecutor Linda Applebaum, began her explanation about the receivership process (ORC 3767.41), she focused on a Munn Road property in Newbury Township.
The case is a first for the township, a first for the county and a first for Applebaum.
“I’ve been practicing (law) for 18 years and I’ve never had to do a receivership,” she said, adding she worked previously for a city, which has more leeway to condemn and clean up a nuisance property than an Ohio township does, per the ORC.
The township has been trying to get the 6 acres, owned by Roberta Ann, cleaned up since 2004, Applebaum said.
“It’s an extreme hoarding situation. There are hundreds of tires and at least 16 junk vehicles,” she said.
Newbury Township Trustees and the zoning inspector appealed to Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz and about two years ago, they started the process to have a judge appoint a receiver to oversee the clean-up process.
Applebaum described the receiver as a liaison between the township and the contractors hired to do the work.
“The powers of a receiver are pretty extensive,” she said, adding the local lawyer who was appointed will be able to bring legal actions, contract with demolition experts, sell land and execute leases, in the interests of the township. The township will be paying him $250 an hour besides fronting the cost of the clean-up.
“This receiver has been very good about consulting everyone. (He) only has to answer to the judge,” Applebaum said.
The entire project is likely to cost Newbury Township around $100,000, which may be more than the property is worth if it is sold at auction for taxes after the work is complete, said Trustee Bill Skomrock.
“I would recommend never getting a receiver involved. But this is an extreme example,” Applebaum said, adding she came into the case four months ago and progress has been made on the appointment of a receiver and a contractor’s agreement. She has filed one lien against the property and is working on a second that may, eventually, return to the township some of the taxpayer dollars spent.
The good news is she anticipates the clean-up will be done before winter closes in, but the entire project will take a couple of years to complete.
Flaiz noted Ann has allowed a man who lives on the property to bring in piles of stuff. She spent 30 days in jail and was fined $500 and still has not put a stop to his hoarding.
“I’ll take responsibility for the receiver,” Flaiz said Saturday. “We couldn’t figure out what to do (about) this issue.”
Both individuals living at 14982 Munn Road have “serious mental health issues,” he said, adding a third elderly person living there died from neglect.
“This is so ridiculous. When we came up with the receivership idea, we had to talk the court into doing it,” he said.
Finding a receiver was a challenge. Flaiz said he called 10 lawyers before one agreed to take it on. Because of the unpredictable individuals living on the property, the court ordered anyone going on Ann’s property to be accompanied by a deputy.
“This is a very extreme example. I wouldn’t use (a receivership) unless you really, really, really need it,” Flaiz told the audience. “In the end, it’s a bad deal for Newbury. The township’s going to end up losing money.”
Getting abandoned structures removed is usually less complicated, said Assistant Prosecutor Sheila Salem.
The fire department or county building department can inspect the structure and make a formal recommendation to the township trustees, who need to pass a resolution. A certified letter with specific language is sent to the property owner and the lien holder.
The owner has a right to a hearing and may sign an agreement for the removal of the structure, Salem said.
“The township does not have a legal responsibility to raze a building. It’s more of a public relations perspective,” she said, adding the township can encourage the owner to take the structure down at his or her cost, but it rarely happens.
“Three times (a building) has been so bad trustees said, ‘Even if we have to eat (the cost), we’re going to do it.’ It’s not something to do lightly,” Salem said.
Getting junk vehicles removed from private property is somewhat less complicated, but there are prescribed steps to follow and they differ if the situation is treated as a zoning code violation or as a nuisance, said Assistant Prosecutor Susan Wieland.
First the township has to prove the vehicle has not moved over a period of time, something a neighbor can document with pictures, she said, adding testimony is not generally accepted by the court.
The statute defines a junk vehicle as being at least 3 years old, apparently inoperable and having extensive body damage, Wieland said.
She added they have to be parked in the open for 30 days or more.
