FARMINGTON -- Neighbors concerned about the condition of property at 97 N. Double Springs Road continue to show up at monthly City Council meetings to get updates on what the city is doing to clean up the property.
Last week's meeting was no exception. Two neighbors, LaDeana Mullinix and Jim Logue, attended the July 10 meeting with questions.
"Is there anything we can do to make them clean up the front yard?" Logue asked. "I'm tired of looking at it."
City Attorney Steve Tennant told Logue the city is staying on top of it but has to follow statutory procedures.
"The wheels of justice grind slowly," Tennant said.
At one point, the city had hoped to clean up the property using a state law allowing cities to declare a property as a common nuisance. The statute says a property can be declared a common nuisance if it has three separate district court convictions of health and safety code violations within a one-year period.
Now, a different route is being used, as requested by the city.
The mortgage holder, Williams Holdings LLC, has filed a complaint against the four owners to foreclose because of the condition of the property, Tennant said.
On Friday, Wade Williams, attorney for Williams Holdings, said there are several legal steps to go through in foreclosing on property. Foreclosure has started. It is taking longer, Williams said, because the title search determined one individual has a lien on the property and this person cannot be located.
A warning notice has been published and a certified letter sent to the last address of the person with the lien to give the person the appropriate time to respond. That time has expired. The next step will be to have a decree of foreclosure issued by the court, which gives the owners 10 days to satisfy all judgments, Williams said.
When the 10-day deadline has passed, Williams Holdings will ask the court to set a date to sell the property by public auction.
After the property is sold, the current owners will be required to vacate the property. If there is a problem, Williams said, the court will be asked to issue a writ of assistance, requesting help from law enforcement.
The city has issued multiple warnings and violations against the property owners for violating the city's ordinance that deals with unsightly conditions and inoperable vehicles, according to Rick Bramall, city building official.
Those violations have been issued to two individuals, Richard L. Riley and Mary Ann Elder. Riley has been convicted in district court on two violations of the city's unsightly ordinance and Elder has been found guilty once for violating the city ordinance.
Mullinix said the yard of the house has been a nuisance for two years but has been worse the past year. She first complained to the city in October 2016, and neighbors in the area mailed letters to Mayor Ernie Penn and City Council members in December 2016, expressing their concerns about the condition of the property.
The same neighbors also complained about a burned, vacant house at 89 N. Double Springs Road. This house has been demolished and the land cleared.
General News on 07/19/2017