Council approves condemnation resolution

EL DORADO — The El Dorado City Council approved resolutions condemning 10 properties as nuisances during Thursday’s council meeting, clearing the way for the structures to eventually be demolished.

The resolution passed with little discussion by the council.

“The fire marshal and code enforcement division for the city of El Dorado have determined that the listed dilapidated and vacant structures constitute a fire and health hazard and are unsightly or unsafe due to abandonment or neglect,” the resolution stated. “The structures are deemed detrimental to the health and safety of the citizens of the city of El Dorado.”

With the approval of the resolution, the city can move forward with plans to remove the structures.

“The property owners get sent a certified letter, then they have 30 days from time they sign for letter to respond,” Kirby Craig, city code enforcement officer, explained on Monday. “A lot of people won’t sign for a certified letter, but we have 30 days from time we get the signed receipt for the letter.”

Craig said he was out on Monday posting notices on the condemned houses.

When time comes to knock down the derelict structures, the city pays for the demolition out of the public works budget, Craig said.

“Aftewards I try to bill for it, but sometimes I collect and sometimes I don’t,” he said. “A lot of properties are tax delinquent, and people have just walked off and left them.”

But the city still has to demolish the abandoned properties. “They get unsafe and used for drug houses and things like that,” Craig said.

The city tears down about 50 condemned structures a year at a cost of about about $1.50 square foot, Craig said. “We mainly are recovering our tipping fees at dump, we have to carry everything to the dump for EPA purposes.”

When the certified letters come back undeliverable, the city has the right to remove the structures immediately, but it still takes a while before properties are demolished.

“Some of them I have had condemned for two years now, but we still haven’t gotten to them,” Craig said.

Craig said the number of properties to be condemned has slowed down during his four years on the job.

“Now we just have a list every three or four months, Craig said. “We used to have 25-30 properties once a month on list, but it has slowed way down.”

Once the resolution passes, Craig gets the power pulled from the structure.

“After that they can’t get power back on at the property or anything,” he said. “That makes them where people can’t live in them.”

Occasionally the city finds itself condemning a rental property, Craig noted. “We have had to condemn several rental houses, we have some people who will rent out anything.”

Craig said he has had several cases challenged in court, some going all the way to federal court. “But I have won everything so far that I have done.”

Many of the properties find themselves abandoned after the owner passes away without leaving a will.

“A lot of the problem is these people whose grandparents owned the house are now living in Michigan or California and they don’t realize they still own them, they may not have seen the property in years.”

Also often there will be numerous heirs to a property, but no one takes care of the property.

Once vandals get into the empty homes and start pulling out wiring, it doesn’t take long at all for that property to fall into disrepair.

Then it is up to the city to get rid of the structure.

“It’s just one of the things city has to do,” Craig said.

“When we’ve had so many drug arrests out of a house in so much time I can also condemn it,” he added. “As long as we have drugs we’re going to have problems with abandoned properties.”