Dubois County commissioners give property owner two more weeks to clear property, defer fine decision

Dubois County Commissioners granted Cynthia and Kurt Kippenbrock a two-week continuance to bring their Old State Road 64 property into compliance with county junk and waste ordinances, deferring a decision on fines and the threat of county-led cleanup to a follow-up hearing set for 8:30 a.m. on 17 August 2026.

The case has drawn repeated neighbor complaints over accumulated waste, junk, vehicles and metal storage containers, which county officials say raise fire and health hazard concerns. The case was originally filed in June 2025. Commissioners most recently returned to the case on June 16, giving the Kippenbrocks until Monday’s meeting to bring the property into compliance.

Carla Striegel-Winner, director of the Dubois County Solid Waste Management District, drove by the property the morning of Monday’s hearing and noted visible improvement.

“The entire front yard area is tidy with no weeds,” she told commissioners, adding that vehicles had been moved to the back of the property.

She stopped short of calling it compliant, however.

“It would be my recommendation to, at the very least, fine them for having gone through this entire process for so long,” she said. “I do believe that it will start to decline again.”

Commissioner Serice Steftenagel, who visited the property the day before the hearing, also saw improvement but remains concerned, citing old motorcycles, concrete barriers, a four-wheeler, loose steel and metal crates still on site. Photos she took Sunday showed a cluttered driveway in contrast to the photos Striegel-Winner took Monday morning showing the same area largely cleared. This had commissioners questioning where the material went.

Lance Kippenbrock, speaking for the family, acknowledged the property isn’t there yet. “It’s definitely not in compliance,” he told commissioners. He said that he’s no longer bringing new wood or metal onto the property and is working to sort and dispose of what remains, separating scrap metal for removal.

When asked whether their intentions were to continue a wood splitting business he was operating, Lance Kippenbrock said he didn’t plan to do so and the wood there would be for personal use.

His mother, Cynthia Kippenbrock, pushed back on any suggestion from the commissioners that all woodworking equipment must go, since firewood is the family’s primary heat source. “We should be able to still provide for our own source of heat,” she said, “but we need to keep it tidy and in one area and cleaned up.”

Commissioner Chad Blessinger told her he understands the need for firewood but said the quantity and disorganization go well beyond personal use. “I’ve got neighbors that have wood burners, people all across the county that do that, and their properties don’t look like this,” he said.

In the end, commissioners weighed three options — a fine of up to $1,000 per violation, county-led cleanup, or closing the case — without reaching consensus on any single one.

Blessinger said sending county workers onto private property remains a last resort: “It’s always a challenge for the government to go on someone else’s property and deal with their property… but I feel like we’re being pushed very close to that.”

Hostetter was ready to close the case based on their progress with a $1,000 fine and a reminder that if they backslide, their neighbors could complain and further action would be taken.

Steftenagel said she supported fining the Kippenbrocks, but she felt the property was still out of compliance with the machinery, concrete, steel and vehicles on the property.

“Everything else needs to be cleaned up, recycled,” she said.

She said the accumulation could attract rodents and be considered a fire hazard.

Hostetter said that under the county’s ordinance, if the material was out of sight, they were in compliance.

Under the plan commissioners settle on, Steftenagel will visit the property within the coming week to walk through specifically what needs to be addressed. If the property isn’t in compliance within two weeks, commissioners say the county will proceed with its own cleanup.