City tells homeowner to shape up

June Casagrande

The owner of a blighted home that has infuriated neighbors for more

than 40 years will not get a reprieve from the City Council.

The council voted unanimously on Tuesday to deny a request from

Dover Drive resident Elmer Thomassen to overturn its earlier ruling

that his home was a nuisance and should be cleaned up immediately.

Thomassen, who did not show up for the hearing, filed the appeal to

buy a little more time to clean up the Dover Drive home whose lawn

and even roof is strewn with rubbish, Assistant City Atty. Dan Ohl

said. But city officials agreed that he’s had enough time.

“We think the abatement order is necessary to keep Thomassen’s

feet to the fire,” said City Atty. Bob Burnham, whose office

recommended that the council deny the appeal.

In four decades of off-and-on attempts to force Thomassen to clean

up the home, officials have kept hitting the same wall: The only way

to get court permission for city workers to clean up the property has

been to serve Thomassen in person with the court papers.

“We’ve had process servers out there as many as eight to 12 times

to serve him, and every time, he sees them he runs the other way,”

Ohl told the council.

“If it comes to that again, I say we just have the process servers

camp out on his porch,” Councilman Steve Rosansky said.

But many are hoping it won’t come to that. The local charity Go

and Do Likewise has offered to do the labor to clean up the home. Ohl

said that he has met with Thomassen and that Thomassen had said he

was amenable to letting the volunteers do the work.

“It’s our hope that within the next 30 to 45 days, we can have the

property in acceptable condition,” Ohl said.

Neighbor Kurt Kalanz urged the council to take action, sharing his

horror at having to walk past the house from the time he was 7 years

old. He is now 17.

“It’s 10 years later, and it’s still the same problem,” Kalanz

said.

Mayor Tod Ridgeway pledged to help: “I’d like to make a promise to

Kurt Kalanz that he won’t have to see it when he’s 27.”