County takes action at Montiview Trailer Ct.

     Action was taken against Montiview Trailer Court, 21664 Business Highway 151, Monticello, during the April 8 Jones County Supervisors meeting, giving the tenants 30 days' notice to clean up the trash and refuse around the individual trailers.

   Before formal action was taken, neighboring property owners spoke briefly during the public comment period of the meeting. One said not much has changed since the week prior when the public hearing on the nuisance complaint was held. Another said the "squatters" trespass through their property when walking from the trailer court down to the Maquoketa River.

   Land Use Administrator Whitney Amos informed the supervisors that she sent them an email from the DNR concerning the sewer and water issues. Per her conversations with the DNR, she said the county needs to just focus their efforts on the original nuisance, being the refuse.

   "The DNR will handle the septic and well," she said.

   "It looks like a bomb went off," commented Supervisor Jeff Swisher. "We need to keep pushing forward."

   Amos spoke with Lori Jess, the office manager of the sheriff's civil division. The people squatting the abandoned trailers would all have to be evicted from the property.

   "We have a list of trailers out there from Amy (Picray, county treasurer)," said Amos. "We need to determine which ones (trailers) are OK to be lived in, which aren't squatters, and start the eviction process for the others.

   "If this is something the county is going to abate," continued Amos, "it makes taking bids and going through that process. It's not going to be an overnight thing by any means."

   "So is that our responsibility, that we get rid of the squatters?" asked Supervisor Joe Oswald.

   Amos said considering nothing has been done about the nuisance since it was reported in December, if the county plans to take matters into their own hands and have the trailers removed, then people need to be evicted. She said it'd be great if the contract holder, Montipark LLC (William Shadbolt), would take matters into his own hands, but that has not been the case.

   Amos said County Attorney Kristofer Lyons would have to be consulted in terms of the legality involved in the eviction process.

   Swisher asked how much money was in the county's nuisance abatement fund. County Auditor Whitney Hein said she budgets $10,000 to $11,000 a year.

   "This is going to far exceed that if we go down this road," said Swisher of demolishing the trailers.

   "With the timeline," offered Hein, "we will probably be well into the next fiscal year before any large costs are incurred. We could probably just do a budget amendment."

   Supervisor John Schlarmann asked Kevin Miller, the deed holder of Montiview, if he'd had any communication with Shadbolt. Kevin and not only has he been trying to contact him, but his son, Nick, and their attorney have all been trying to get in touch with him.

   "Probably 50-plus phone calls, text messages, emails, and registered letters," offered Nick Miller. We have our attorney working on it. No response. It's as frustrating for us as it is for you guys."

   Schlarmann said his contact with the DNR has had the same issues tracking Shadbolt down, who resides in the State of Washington.

   "They've gone as far to where his boat is docked to try and serve him," shared Schlarmann. "They can't find him."

   "I think it falls on us because it sounds like the burden is not being taken care of and we need to protect the citizens," voiced Swisher. "As far as the squatting and eviting, we have to get the proper representation on how we go about that. As far as the nuisance and junk, we should at least tackle that and start working on that."

   "The question is, what's your definition of a squatter?" proposed Kevin. "Is it somebody who just hasn't paid their taxes? Or somebody living there unknown?"

   Amos asked the Millers how confident they are about getting their final payment from Shadbolt by April 30, making him the sole owner of the trailer court.

   "You do realize that if we abate this nuisance and it (the property) goes back into your hands, this is going on the taxes," she said to the Millers. "It's going to be harder for you guys to sell because you'll have a tax lien."

   "We understand it follows the property," Nick Miller said. "He (Shadbolt) paid his taxes for March; he made his March payment. He is talking to the on-site manager a little bit, occasionally."

   Swisher said if the certified letters sent to the tenants don't get the trash cleaned up, the county will come in and do it themselves and assess the cost against the property as a whole.

   Nick informed the supervisors that their attorney, O'Shea & O'Shea PC, sent the county a letter explaining the Millers' rights as the deed holder. He said any work his parents have done up to this point to correct any nuisance situations have come out of their pockets.

   "They know there's an issue so they made the decision to pay somebody to clean it up," he said. "We're trying to do all that we can do. A lot of improvements have been made; still a long way to go. We're willing to work with you guys if you're willing to work with us."

   Kevin offered to assist Amos is getting the names and lot numbers of the tenants living in Montiview. The county plans to have each tenant served with a nuisance violation, giving them 30 days to abate.

   Schlarmann said he feels bad for the neighboring property owners who also have to deal with the situation.

   "It's just a mess," he said. "I feel bad for the people living there, for their health with the water and sewer. I don't know if we're going to get anywhere with him (Shadbolt). But we have to start at the bottom and do it the right way.

   "There are titles to those mobile homes. We can't just go in there, hook on, and pull them out," he continued. "We have to figure out who owns them."

   "It's no different than an eviction in an apartment," added Oswald. "We can't just go in and get rid of (their junk). They have legal rights."

Side bar:

The Millers' attorney, O'Shea & O'Shea PC out of Hiawatha, included a detailed list in their correspondence to the Jones County Supervisors, noting the work the Millers, as deed holders to Montiview Trailer Court, have done in the recent weeks to help address the nuisance issues.

Septic repairs completed by Robb Harter:

   • Pumped septic tanks

   • Jetted sewer lines

   • Replaced one faulty pump

   • Ordered second pump, which is on back-order

   • New sewer filters will be installed once the second pump is installed

   • Harter verified the sewer is working on both ends of the trailer court

   • The raw sewage on the ground was cleaned up

   • Harter will revisit Lot 23 to check into the clogged sink that was reported, and make needed repairs.

   • The sewer distribution box had the appropriate level of water in it.

Water updates:

   • The water system is located behind a locked box. The on-site manager allowed Kevin Miller access to the water system.

   • On April 4, a certified water operator took a chlorine sample of the water, and the results came in at 2.1ppm. The legal limits are between .3 and 3ppm.

   • The softener salt tub appeared full.

   • Kevin Miller has been in close communication with Amber Sauser with the DNR. He asked her to take a nitrate, bacteria, and chlorine test. Her first availability was April 8. Sauser will help to determine what repairs or updates will need to be made to the water system to get it in compliance.

   • Kevin Miller hired Daniel Pike to oversee the water at the trailer court. Pike lives outside of Monticello and is a license certified water operator. He is the current Public Works director for the City of Mechanicsville.

Other updates:

   • Cleaned up one bad area of trash that filled up a roll-off dumpster.

   • Second roll-off dumpster was delivered to the front lots to be used for clean-up.