FARMINGTON -- Neighbors concerned about property at 97 N. Double Springs Road continue to show at monthly City Council meetings to get updates on what the city is doing to clean the property.
Neighbors LaDeana Mullinix and Jim Logue had questions at recent meeting.
"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 has to follow statutory procedures.
"The wheels of justice grind slowly," Tennant said.
City officials hoped to clean the property using a state law allowing cities to declare a property as a nuisance. The statute says a property can be declared a nuisance if it has three district court convictions of health and safety code violations within a year.
Now, a different route is being used, as requested by the city.
Mortgage holder Williams Holdings has filed a complaint against the four owners to foreclose because of the condition of the property, Tennant said.
Wade Williams, attorney for Williams Holdings, said there are several legal steps to go through in foreclosing on property. Foreclosure has started. It's taking longer because a title search determined one individual has a lien on the property and that person cannot be found, Williams said.
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 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 residents 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 dealing with unsightly conditions and inoperable vehicles, according to Rick Bramall, city building official.
The violations have been issued to Richard L. Riley and Mary Ann Elder. Riley has been convicted in district court on two violations of the ordinance, and Elder has been found guilty once for violating the ordinance.
Mullinix said the yard 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, expressing concerns about the property.
The same neighbors also complained about a burned, vacant house at 89 N. Double Springs Road. That house has been demolished and the land cleared.
NW News on 07/21/2017