City building checks move into ‘high gear’
City officials in Washington were out in full force Monday, following up on complaints about a variety of buildings, which one councilman said are the result of widespread coverage of the partial collapse of the building at 15 Main St. two weeks ago.
Demolition of that structure, the former Montgomery Building, continued Monday, a process that began a week ago.
About 9:30 a.m., members of city council and the police and fire departments, as well as code enforcement officer Ron McIntyre, inspected a vacant building at 1080 Jefferson Ave., the former Clark School, which was converted to apartments about 20 years ago.
Councilman Joe Manning said officials went to look at the building because police and fire personnel recently were called there to respond to a drug overdose and noticed deteriorating conditions on the inside of the structure.
McIntyre said the building, which he said is owned by Billie Joe Sanders, was boarded up, apparently to keep squatters from entering.
Two large signs in the front of the building advertise its sale on the internet auction site eBay.
Officials then moved to 80-90 E. Beau St., following up on an anonymous call about conditions there, but after a brief inspection, Manning said there appeared to be only minor code violations.
“Thank goodness, we didn’t have to evict anyone,” Manning said of the East Beau location.
The group expected to to inspect another building on South Main Street.
Since the collapse of the Montgomery Building, which is owned by Mark Russo, the city has condemned two other residential buildings Russo owns with his sister, Melissa.
On Friday, they declared as “unfit for human habitation” a building containing two apartments at 149 and 149 1/2 Hall Ave. According to a notice on the front of the unit, reasons included an unsafe outer wall and foundation, a plumbing system hazard and an unsafe interior structure.
Two days earlier, officials also declared as unfit for human habitation an apartment building owned by the Russos at 350 Duncan Ave.
While residents who lived at 15 N. Main St. have found temporary housing, Manning said the closures of the two other apartment buildings have caused the evictions of a number of tenants.
He said a meeting has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers with representatives of the Red Cross, Washington County Housing Authority, Community Action Southwest and other agencies to discuss temporary placement of the evicted residents.
Manning and Mayor Scott Putnam said demolition was continuing Monday at 15 N. Main St.
Putnam said they expected to receive an update from the demolition contractor Monday afternoon.
When asked if he could estimate when North Main Street could again be opened to traffic, Putnam said that would happen as soon as it could be determined that the area is safe enough to permit traffic.
According to Manning, a piece of the roof was expected to be removed Monday.
In the meantime, Manning said the city is responding to a list generated from numerous phone calls and posts on its website complaining about conditions of various buildings in the city.
If the actions of last week and Monday are an indication, it appears the city has moved into an aggressive mode on its commercial and residential building problems.
“We are in high gear,” Manning acknowledged Monday.