Milford Town Council Tackles Issue Of Dilapidated Houses
Posted
JUDE STRIEBY-RASKA-
MILFORD – The topic was dilapidated houses at the Monday meeting of the Milford Town Council. Tom Bulger, building commissioner, did drive-by inspections of six out of 14 properties that had repairs ordered 16 months previously. He reported that all six were still unsafe and the landowners had not complied with the repair order, which was to finish needed repairs within 60 days. Attorney Scott Reust laid out three actions the council could legally choose from according to Indiana law. The options presented were: • To fine the owner of each property $2,500 per property for lack of compliance, with another 60 days to get the required improvements finished. If the fine is not paid after 60 days, the property will then be able to go into foreclosure. • To have a court order demanding the repairs be made. • To go to court and have a receiver appointed, which gives said person authority to make a decision about each individual property, whether it should be demolished, foreclosed or repaired. Councilmen Dan Cochran and Doug Ruch deliberated in much length about what to do. “Any way we do this, it’s going to cost the town money,” said Cochran. “There’s no great answer here.” “I hope I’m wrong, but anything around $80,000 will be a blessing,” Ruch agreed. “We’re going to need to spend 75-80 grand before it's said and done.” Of the presented options, the council approved the motion to fine property owners $2,500 for each property, with foreclosure being the final legal action if the fine is not paid and then repairs are not done. Wessler Engineering presented their design drawings for the wastewater project, which were 60 percent done. The company found that the wastewater project is currently $43,000 up from the preliminary estimated budget due to some unexpected onsite grading work that needed to be done. Also taken into consideration, the design proposed that purchasing three new sludge pumps would be more cost effective in the long run. Police Chief Richard Miotto requested funds for a new computer. The council approved the asked amount of $1,550. In utility news, Steven Marquart, street and water superintendent, reported the signal is consistently being lost between the town well and water tower in the evenings and on the weekends. Marquart says he’s looking into the problem. Marquart also is working on changing the town code regarding meter pits. The code currently states that meter pit regulations are up to the discretion of the current superintendent. A continuous problem is that meters on mobile homes often break due to freezing. When they break, Marquart and his crew often need to climb underneath those homes to replace the broken meters. He is wanting to change the code to say that all homes must have a meter pit with a cast iron lid or the meter must be place inside the home where it is in a warm environment, which will keep it from freezing.
