Written in spray paint are the words "Clean Now" at the residence of 1222 St. Helens St. Friday afternoon in Centralia.
Weeds consume the residence of 1222 St. Helens St. Friday afternoon in Centralia.
Help is on the way for Centralia residents who say an abandoned house is causing rat problems in their neighborhood — but maybe not as soon as they would like.
R. Lena Glidewell and Joe Calkins addressed the Centralia City Council Tuesday, making an emotional plea for the city to do something about the derelict property at 1222 St. Helens Ave. that is causing massive problems for neighbors.
“There’s an unbelievable amount of rats and rodents,” Glidewell said. “If you lived next door to this, you would be screaming.”
Calkins said the problem has gotten considerably worse recently, and he’s spent more than $100 on rat poison in the past six weeks. Still, it’s only done so much.
“I’m suffering damage,” Calkins said. “I don’t know what to say, other than please help. … This is a health hazard. This isn’t an eyesore. … This is way beyond an eyesore.”
Both said they had tried contacting city officials and felt not enough was being done to address their concerns.
City attorney Shannon Murphy-Olson said the city can only respond within its authority, and the legal system can take time.
“I'd say right now this is probably the No. 1 (nuisance property),” she said. “We also have limited authority at this point in the municipal court.”
The site has long been on the city’s radar; it was listed years ago on a former police chief Bob Berg’s “Dirty Dozen” list of nuisance houses. The vast majority, Murphy-Olson said, cooperated with the city and brought their properties into compliance. The St. Helens property, though, remained a problem, with overgrown grass, garbage and an abandoned vehicle.
Between 2011 and 2016, the city ceased doing code enforcement, based on direction from city council members at the time. Since 2016, the city has issued three citations on the house. At some point, the owner abandoned the site.
Last June, owner, Joan Sittko, then-75, pleaded guilty to her first criminal charge for misdemeanor nuisance in Centralia Municipal Court. Judge James Buzzard told Sittko she had until the end of October to clean up the property or she may face jail time and a fine. Still the property hasn’t been cleaned up.
“The back appears to be falling in,” Murphy-Olson said. “The roof is held together by a blue tarp.”
Murphy-Olson is planning to return to municipal court on June 5 for an order of abatement, which would allow city staff to clean the property from June 11-22. She’s also asked to allow rodent control onto the site. After that, the city will lien the property for the expenses, then move to Superior Court to get a demolition order.
“This is a first, so I’m not sure how long that will take,” she said.
Though neighbors feel a sense of urgency, the ordeal has been a lengthy one in part because Centralia simply doesn’t have the mechanisms to crack down quickly. Murphy-Olson said the city tries to work with property owners, many of whom are elderly people who have no other place to go. In general, people are cooperative.
When they’re not, as in this case, the legal maneuvers for property abatement — citations followed by infractions followed by misdemeanors — take time. Even when the city does have the legal authority to fix a nuisance property, such massive cleanup efforts require money that may not be available.
“The cost has definitely been a factor that we've had to take in,” Murphy-Olson said. “We don't get to do big nuisance cleanups very often because of the financial burdens. … Generally, when properties are in that shape, those people don't have the assets to repay.”
For the St. Helens property, at least, Murphy-Olson said the city council has instructed her to make it a priority. And she wants residents to know that the city is trying to strike a balance between enforcing its standards and finding ways to work with those who are struggling.
“Unbeknownst to a lot of people, we do have a heart,” she said.
