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October 9, 2008

Will county action set unwanted precedent?

Commissioner wonders aloud after court votes to remove burned-out mobile from subdivision

By Rich Flowers News Editor

In a rare move, the Henderson County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to remove a burned-out mobile home from a property in the Timber Bay Subdivision near Gun Barrel City.

The 5-0 vote followed a discussion concerning how the county should respond when asked to abate properties within subdivisions in the county.

In this case, the Timber Bay Property Owners Association approached the county asking for help in removing the structure located at 115 Trail Drive. The county has rarely been asked to use its labor and equipment to remove a house from private property within a subdivision.

“Under our abatement procedures there are certain circumstances that have to be met before the court takes this action,” Pct. 2 Commissioner Wade McKinney said.

County Fire Marshal Stacey Glover said all of the requirements have been met. The owner of the property was sent the abatement notice by certified mail. Later, the notice was posted on the property and published in the newspaper as prescribed by law.

Before the abatement action, the owner was served a citation for a violation of the county public nuisance policy and later jailed for failure to meet the conditions of the code. Efforts to contact her since her release have been unsuccessful, Glover said.

Commissioners also voted Tuesday to accept a check for $1,368 from the POA to cover the rental of three dumpsters the county will use in clearing away the debris. The labor and equipment will come from Pct. 2.

Pct. 1 Commissioner Joe Hall said his precinct has done two abatements. The other three commissioners did not recall having participated in one.

“We haven’t had many of these abatements, although we’ve had the policy for some time,” Pct. 4 Commissioner Jerry West said. “I haven’t had any and I think that’s the first one Wade has had. I sort of had reservations about it, but I know it’s within our means to do it so I voted for it.”

West said now that commissioners have opened the door for public nuisance abatements, how common they will be happen remains to be seen.

“That’s something to be concerned about,” West said. “There are a lot of subdivisions with these dilapidated homes on them.”

West said he sees coming before Commissioners Court for abatement as a last resort. He said cases where repeated efforts fail to contact the property owner are probably rare. In addition, when property owners fail to pay taxes on the lot, the county can put it up for public auction in order to capture a portion of its value and get the property back on the tax rolls.

According to the Texas Government Code, structures such as the one on Trail Drive fall under the definition of a public nuisance.

Violations of the standard include: maintaining a building in a manner that is structurally unsafe or constitutes a hazard to safety, health or public welfare because of inadequate maintenance, unsanitary conditions, dilapidation, obsolescence, disaster, damage, or abandonment or because it constitutes a fire hazard.

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