Council asked to crack down on abandoned houses

Moorcroft's derelict and abandoned houses and trailers are again the forefront of discussion among the town's elected officials and homeowners who have to live next to these properties.

Many of these buildings are believed unsafe – gutted by fire, rodent infested, with rotting holes in the roof and floor, etc. and have continued to decay for several years with little to no interest from the owners.

At a recent meeting of the town council, resident Sam Burke, fiancé Jerry Hildeman and neighbor Arlo Long, who each live next to such a property, confronted the governing body regarding the behavior of these property owners who neither maintain nor remove the uninhabited and uninhabitable structures.

Burke had done her homework, citing possible strategies to handle this problem that "affects the safety, beauty and economic wellbeing of Moorcroft... It's a decline in property values, safety hazards and visual impact".

In her discourse, Burke condemned the absentee owners, "who contribute little beyond basic property taxes. This minimal investment in our community leads to several critical issues."

She brought up avenues the town can implement moving forward.

"As of July 1, 2023, Wyoming offers a tax credit for owners who take steps to clean up abandoned properties. New owners of abandoned properties can also take advantage of the tax credit," she said.

"This initiative not only provides financial relief, but also encourages property owners to maintain the safety and beauty of their buildings...So encourage property owners to take advantage of the state provided tax credits by providing them with the information and assistance to apply for the benefit."

Municipal law is the first step to dealing with these neglectful owners, said Burke, "Many cities have enacted ordinances specifically targeting abandoned and nuisance properties. These regulations empower the city to designate properties as nuisances and impose fees on owners to cover the cost of reduction, elimination or removal of buildings and all necessary repairs."

Moorcroft Mayor Ben Glenn, though, explained that the town has already worked with the ordinance and is now charging the maximum $750 per citation allowed by Wyoming statute.

"We have put more teeth in our ordinance because we do have these problems, we do have these complaints. We all live here, we see it, too," he said.

The next step, of course, is stricter enforcement. According to Burke, "Increase the frequency of abandoned property inspections and enforce strict penalties for noncompliance to ensure the property owners adhere to local codes and maintain their properties appropriately."

Councilwoman Heidi Humpal adamantly agrees with this, stating, "I am definitely 100% in agreement that it should be followed a lot stricter than what we do...I understand your pain, when you try to take care of your property and you have neighbors who don't take as much pride in it, it is very frustrating."

Councilman Dale Petersen spoke from his experience as a member of the governing body, "I've been on the council for a long time; we started this very early on and there are a lot of legal issues about going on to other people's property. If they come to court, and this has happened in the past, the judge gives them 30 days. They do exactly what you said, they mow the front and bring the picture; the judge says well, you're working on it, making progress and gives them another 30 days. So what the courts do is out of our hands."

Her last suggestion was possible grant funding for the work if owners do not have the financial capacity to responsibly manage their own property.

"It's a long shot, but the environmental Protection Agency (EPA) offers ground-fields clean up grants, which can be instrumental in funding the assessment and clean up of ground–fields sites within our communities. These grants are designed to help clean up contaminated properties," he said.

After concluding her dialogue, the 17-year Moorcroft homeowner shared her frustration with the situation with her neighbor's lackadaisical attitude to maintaining their trailer that sits next to Burke's home, "When you tell him to, he comes and mows the front lawn and picks up a few things. He cleans up the very front and doesn't touch anything else; he tries to use our dumpster. He finally had somebody out there helping him clean up...There are big holes underneath it, the siding's missing on half of it."

"He's got dead tree branches right next to his trailer – I've had trees fall in my driveway multiple times, trapped my brother-in-law, who's in a wheelchair, until somebody could get over there and cut it down because he's not going to come do it. The fire hazard's right next door to me, it's ridiculous," she concluded.

Councilman Bob Stewart's mention of a conversation with the individual, "He did inform me that they are coming back on the 10th and 11th [of May] to start cleaning that up," was met with skepticism from the audience.

Humpal said that this time the mayor and Randy Blakeman have both offered the use of their personal utility trailers to assist this owner in cleaning up this lot. She later spoke to the need of lot owners acting with more concern for the consequences of their actions that befall others, saying, "We all need to be a little more neighborly in keeping our properties cleaned up for the sake of property taxes, the value of your home and just taking some pride in the appearance."

Hildman has offered an invitation to members of the council to drop by their property and see what the neighbor's place looks like.

Burke has been trying to sell her home for a number of years without success and her fiancé shared his distress, "We feel we're over assessed because of this; we can't get market value out of our house because of what's around it. That's pretty detrimental. I want to do some things outside – I want to paint, I want to fix it up...but it's like everything I put into it is for nothing except for my own personal satisfaction and that runs out after a while."

"I've been proud to call Moorcroft my home for nearly 20 years," Burke stated. "It's not a junk yard for people who live in other communities and it's your job as elected officials to make sure it's not treated as such."

The mayor told the concerned residents about other ways the town is trying to encourage these property owners to take better care of their lots and take the waste to the town landfill.

He said, "If we can help with dump fees, we are helping these properties with dump fees. We are doing everything we can do, short of cleaning it up for them because that does put the burden back on the town if we go in there and do that."

He assured Burke and her associates that the property nearest theirs will likely be "taken care of by June or July."