Steelville’s building inspector wants the city cleaned up. Inspector Alan Thorpe was hired just last fall and has hit the ground running to improve properties around town that are not in compliance with city ordinances. While many are in favor of such improvements, others have complained that he is not being fair in the places he has targeted for corrective actions.

Mayor Terry Palmer explained it this way: “We’ve not had a strong building inspector here.” And Thorpe added, “And now they (the property owners under scrutiny) are throwing a fit.”

Police Chief Lydle Davis also believes the lack of strong inspection is what has led the city to this state. “We’ve been sliding,” he said.

Thorpe reported he’s been working on getting needed clean up done in various locations around the city. He has been working with Chief Davis and the city’s attorney and has been informing the city council along the way about the different situations and how they are being handled.

Properties on Euclid were initially targeted. “It was the worst,” Thorpe stated. “And (the owner) is cleaning it up.”

He has also worked with the police department to have tickets issued to several homes on High Street, where the homes and yards are so full of trash and debris that it poses a health hazard. “There are pieces of broken glass, containers of water where mosquitoes can breed and deer carcasses (at least three in one yard),” Thorpe reported. In court, owners were given an additional 60 days to clean their property, time which will end on April 5.

He has been in contact a number of times with the owner of another property on High Street, where a home burned more than a year ago and is a safety concern. At the council meeting on Monday night, aldermen approved Thorpe’s recommendation to hire a contractor to clean up the property for $2,500 (the price includes removal of debris and dirt for fill). According to city ordinance, that cost will become a tax lien on the property.

The most recent target from the inspector was Slowensky’s Trailer Park, located at 38 Highway 8 East. “I can’t stress enough how badly I want these people to clean this area up,” Thorpe stated. He reported on conditions of trailers located in the park and showed pictures of various places where underpinning was missing, the trailers were not tied down, sewage was running out onto the ground, and of various electrical hazards.

Thorpe sent a letter early in February to all homeowners and tenants in the park informing them of impending inspections and listing items to be rectified. Included on the list of requirements for compliance were trash and debris removal, skirting installation and water/sewer leak repairs. The letter noted that non-compliance could result in a fine of up to $500 and a court summons and gave 30 days to get the work done. However, it also noted that more time could be given, if needed. He included a copy of the relevant ordinance requirements.

He reported that the day after the letter went out, he was contacted by tenants in one trailer who wanted their place inspected. They stated they had asked their landlord for some repairs but were refused. Thorpe said he discovered a broken toilet seat and shower door in the bathroom, holes in the floor and walls and electrical outlets with no covers in addition to other safety hazards.

“A five-year-old child lives there,” he said. “I can’t enforce a missing door as a safety issue, but the exposed electrical wires are definitely one. The way I’m hearing it, the landlords don’t want to fix (the homes),” he added. “I was told that one told his tenants, ‘If it’s such a piece of (expletive), why don’t you move?’”

Several reported that utility costs were outrageous—some between $500 and $800—a problem he attributes, at least in part, to the lack of underpinning on the trailers.

“The wind can get under them and pull the insulation out,” he explained. He also reported to the council on Monday night that he had researched utility bills for the homes in the park and found that costs were 125 percent higher in the places without complete underpinning in place.

But John Ransom, who owns several of the targeted mobile homes in the park, vehemently disagrees with Thorpe’s analysis of the situation, as well as his methods. In a letter to the city council dated Feb. 16, Ransom stated, “I wanted the city council to know that ALL (caps his) of my rentals are in compliance with the letter and the partial ordinance pages that I received. Some of the residents of Slowensky’s Trailer Park feel that they are being discriminated against and bullied by the city because it appears they are the only ones receiving these particular letters. May I suggest in the future, that the city make public that they are going to begin enforcing ordinances for ALL city residents and not just target one particular area in town.”

Ransom also attended Monday night’s council meeting and questioned how Thorpe had determined his trailers were not in compliance. He reiterated his letter’s statement that the information was inaccurate. Thorpe responded simply, “John says his trailers are in compliance. Some are; some are not.”

“Why is my trailer park being picked on and no others?” Ransom shot back, to which Thorpe responded that was not true and pointed out what was being done with inspections of the houses on Euclid and High Streets. Thorpe also offered to meet Ransom at the park to point out what needed to be done to come into compliance, and added, “I’m only one person. I’m dealing with the bigger issues first.”

Another complaint Ransom leveled at the inspector was the time of day he was performing work as the city’s building inspector. “Alan is supposed to be working during day in the electric department,” he said.

Thorpe explained, “Sometimes we help in other departments, too, like parks or water. And I do a lot of work after hours.”

City may move line

In addition to his disagreement with the city’s building inspector regarding the condition of the mobile homes he owns in Slowensky’s Trailer Park, John Ransom asked the city to consider moving secondary electric lines in the park that currently run directly over some trailers.

He reported he is unable to obtain insurance on four of his trailers because the lines run over the tops of the homes instead of next to them. Although Thorpe said that most of the trailers in the park are situated where the electric crew can’t get between them to set new poles, and said the city electrician had proposed putting transformers down the center and requiring tenants to pay for underground lines to their homes, Ransom countered, “Most of these people are poor. You are picking on them.”

Alderman Dave Hatcher agreed that the lines should be moved: “I am concerned about lines running over tops of trailers. I don’t want to see that. I lost a tire place because of lines over the top of it. If there’s anything we could do to move the lines, I think we should. Some might say that’s not our responsibility, but it’s a safety factor. Maybe the lines were put there before trailers. I think there’s got to be a solution for this.”