Huntingburg hears hoarding, property maintenance concerns from resident

A Huntingburg resident’s plea for action on a long-standing hoarding issue has prompted city officials to consider strengthening property maintenance codes.

Janet Schnell addressed the Board of Public Works and Safety during their recent meeting, expressing frustration over a 15-year problem with a neighboring property.

“I live right beside someone who has a problem with hoarding and trying to figure out in 15 years that we’ve had this problem, nothing has progressed,” she told the board.

Schnell said she believes the property poses health and safety risks. She presented a timeline of photos showing the property’s deterioration since 2003. Concerns included materials being leaned against her privacy fence, the accumulation of materials as well as unused or junk vehicles on the property

Along with this property next to her home, she also described seeing other unkempt or deteriorating properties around the city on her regular walks.

“I’m trying to figure out how I can, as a citizen, help our community if it’s reporting it, if it is following up,” Schnau said. “I want to know better what I can do to help resolve this problem for our city.”

City Attorney Phil Schneider acknowledged the challenges in addressing hoarding situations. “What some people consider as junk or trash, other people consider as treasure,” Schneider explained. “We’ve got to be conscious of conscientious of people’s right to own property without being unduly restrictive.”

Schneider noted that while the city doesn’t have a specific hoarding ordinance, it does have regulations prohibiting the accumulation of trash and materials that cause health and safety problems or impede emergency access.

Code Enforcement Officer Don Heim reported he had cited the property in question for violations that fall under current ordinances. However, he admitted the city’s options are limited. “We have little teeth in this right now,” Lake said, adding from the fire department perspective that he did also have concerns about the fuel load on the property with the accumulation of materials.

Schnell emphasized the potential fire hazard and mentioned instances of animals dying on her property after coming from the neighboring lot. She urged officials to consider the mental health aspect of hoarding.

“Hoarding is a mental health disorder. If we ignore it, it doesn’t get better, it only gets worse,” Schnell said.

In response to Schnell’s concerns, Schneider said he could explore ways to strengthen the city’s property maintenance codes. “We’ll take a look at what we can do to strengthen our property maintenance codes,” he said. “I’ll work with Paul (City Engineer, Lake) and code enforcement officer, Don, to try to come up with some language that would address some of these issues.”

Board members thanked Schnell for bringing the issue to their attention and assured her they would look into potential solutions.

In other business, the board:

• Approved a change order for $3,990 for additional work on the 17th Street project.
• Tabled a $24,768.48 change order for the 8th Street project, requesting the engineer and contractor attend the next meeting to explain the additional costs.
• Accepted bids for annual city services, including Cave Quarries for crushed stone, J.H. Rudolph for hot mix asphalt, Calcar Paving for paving services, Synergy for fuel, and Velpin Trucking for refuse removal.
• Wastewater Superintendent Brad Koomer reported a decrease of $149,587.90 in the ongoing wastewater renovation project. Koomer and a representative of Commonwealth Engineering explained the changes included the reduction of two walkways: one between the common walls of two tanks and one adjacent to a pump near one of the tanks. The decrease also included eliminating a waterproofing mixture to the interior wall of the double-walled tanks. According to Commonwealth, the additional waterproofing with all the other safeguards and exterior waterproofing was unnecessary.
• Approved updating a position and payscale ordinance for a position at the Huntingburg Police Department. The board approved recommending the creation of the new sergeant position and accompanying salary ordinance to the city council. The change doesn’t add new employees to the department but separates the detectives from a leadership position to solely concentrate on investigations rather than being a supervisor. A road officer will likely be promoted to the sergeant position but Chief Brad Kramer said it wouldn’t affect the department’s coverage of the city.
• Learned that the fire department is nearly fully staffed, with two new firefighters to be sworn in following the meeting and one more nearing certification.
• Heard Tax Increment Finance funds were allocated to cover the cost of new air packs for the fire department.

The board adjourned after addressing all agenda items and public comments.