Commissioners recognize Lane County staff behind massive multiyear cleanup

Presenter: Lane County recognized employees for a major multiyear multidepartment property cleanup. Oct. 21, County Administrator Steve Mokrohisky: 

Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County, administrator): Compliance Officer Amber Watson, is here. We’re also recognizing Compliance Officer Jane Burgess. I don’t think she’s able to join us today. We have Engineering and Construction Services Division Analyst Mike Davis. And then we’re also recognizing Assistant County Counsel Marcus Vejar. 

[00:00:27] In March of last year, Lane County assumed ownership of a property at the corner of Highway 126 and Poodle Creek Road, following a yearslong foreclosure process. The property was well known to neighbors and anyone who regularly drove past on the highway. 

It contained dozens of inoperable and deteriorating vehicles, old tires, garbage, a dozen uninhabitable RVs. The property was also hosting a growing number of people living on the property and structures, RVs, and vehicles as well as significant criminal activity.

[00:01:00] The process to document and enforce compliance issues is long, and that is for good reason. We should have a high bar before seizing private property. So this team that’s here (and those I mentioned who aren’t able to be with us) worked together for years do everything in their legal power and under the county’s legal power to encourage cleanup of the property with the property owner in compliance with land use regulations. This wasn’t a quick thing. Again, we try to really work with the property owners to get these issues rectified. 

[00:01:36] Unfortunately, those were failed efforts. We could not get the property owner to comply. There was a failure to pay the accrued liens placed on the property, and so Lane County began the foreclosure process.

[00:01:49] After we assumed ownership of the property, we brought in a hazmat team to begin consolidating waste, surveying, and securing the manufactured home, shed, and recreational vehicles. The remaining tenants were moved from the property. The owner was not present during that process.

[00:02:10] Large concrete blocks were placed at both driveways to prevent vehicle access to the property. The previous property owner had six months to redeem the property for the minimum bid plus expenses, so there still was an opportunity to pay the costs that were involved in the cleanup of the property and retain the property.

[00:02:31] The former property owner failed to do so, and last fall, we were able to begin the cleanup in earnest. In total—this is an incredible number—in total, we removed 406,298 pounds of trash, not including scrap metal or tires. Four hundred and six thousand, two hundred and ninety-eight pounds. For context, that’s more than the weight of a Boeing 747. That’s the amount of trash that was on the property.

[00:03:03] It’s also more than the weight of the earth’s largest animal, the blue whale, or more than two and a half times the weight of a NASA space shuttle.   

[00:03:12] So after the cleanup was complete, the county pursued a legal lot verification and property appraisal. The Board approved an order to sell the property in July, and it went to market in August. So this is a story that, you know, again, these code compliance and land use issues, property cleanup issues take a long time.

[00:03:32] This is an example of one that it was extremely complex and resulted in a positive outcome that we were able to clean up the property for the surrounding area, deal with all of that trash and the human behavior that was not okay, all led by this incredible team here and so, we’re so thankful to be able to recognize Amber and Mike and Jane and Marcus for their great work and I think I’ll ask our land management division manager, Keir Miller, Keir, if you would like to add any comments.

[00:04:03] Keir Miller (Lane Management Division, manager): I do want to just also recognize the partnership we have with the Sheriff’s Office who also helped us with this project as well as road maintenance staff as well, who placed those concrete blocks.

[00:04:15] It’s been a joint effort. It’s been over a decade-long effort, and I want to give special thanks to Jane Burgess who couldn’t make it today, who really worked on this project for many, many years.

[00:04:25] Our code enforcement staff have a very difficult job. It’s a job where they need to know just an incredible amount of information about a range of different regulations that they’re charged with enforcing. They need to sometimes be social workers and help the public. They need to be compassionate. It’s a difficult job. It’s one that’s becoming increasingly dangerous in recent years, as data shows.

[00:04:49] So I just want to thank Amber, who’s here with us today and Jane and our other tremendous new Code Enforcement Officer Stacy Manning, who makes up our small but mighty team. So thank you for the recognition. 

[00:05:01] Presenter: Commissioner Heather Buch:

[00:05:03] Commissioner Heather Buch: The fines that are set for properties like this, it seems like they often don’t necessarily cover the cost of what it takes to clean up the property. And are those fines set by the county or are they set by the state?

[00:05:21] Presenter: Keir Miller:

[00:05:22] Keir Miller (Lane Management Division, manager): They are. They’re adopted by the board. There’s a matrix in the lien manual that states how the fines are calculated. And it’s a progressive system and there’s other factors, like, if there’s a violation that’s being used for commercial gain or we have a repeat offender, there’s different factors aggravating, mitigating that can increase that cost. But you’re correct. It rarely covers the cost of the enforcement effort.

[00:05:48] Commissioner Heather Buch: I absolutely appreciate your work. Thank you for doing it, and thank you for working here at Lane County.

[00:05:56] I’ve gotten feedback from folks that the money that these people are making off the property is more than the fine. So it can extend the time in which you’re trying to do this good work. Because if they’re renting out a place on the property, even uninhabitable homes, they can often say, ‘Well, I’ll keep paying the fine because I’m getting more money than the fine, actually.’ It turns out not to be the incentive that we’re hoping.

[00:06:24] So it might be something that my colleagues and I might want to revisit at some point. 

[00:06:28] Presenter: Commissioner Laurie Trieger:

[00:06:30] Commissioner Laurie Trieger: Thank you all and I’m really sorry Jane couldn’t be here. I’ve had some emails with her around various challenges of her role. And so I just want to highlight in particular here how you talked about this really being a hybrid of code compliance enforcement, but also sort of human service work in a way, because it takes 10 years because we keep giving people opportunity to get it right and work with us.

[00:06:54] But it also takes a long time for a property to get to that state. And a person is likely in a lot of distress and chaos in their life if that’s the point to which they’ve gotten, that we have to step in. And then you add on that the 10 more years of the process.

[00:07:10] So it just highlights in a way an area that we wouldn’t normally think of as having such an intersection with the sort of human component and the incredible depth and breadth of need in our community for folks who really just struggle to function in a way that meets everyone’s safety needs, the people on the property, their own, and then our employees because they do know it can be really tense when folks have to go out on property.

[00:07:39] And so I’m just very grateful of everyone, particularly on this team, that holds that compassion, but also is really clear about the compliance and why it matters for the general public safety, but also treats those folks really as kindly and carefully as possible. Thank you. 

[00:07:57] Presenter: Commissioner Pat Farr:

[00:07:59] Commissioner Pat Farr: Almost half a million pounds. My gosh, that is a lot of semi-truckloads, isn’t that? And, you know, it’s remarkable work, and I’d love to hear how many hours it took and how many truckloads, et cetera, and disposition of the waste was, not at this point in time, but I mean, the coordination of effort that went into that over the years. I drive past there, you know, on the way to Florence, you see it, and it was hard to miss.

[00:08:23] And I think that this is a testimonial to the hard work, not just of our Public Works team, but also Human Services—because the people that were living there, whether they were renting a home or whether they were the owners of the property, they’re people. And most of them needed treatment of some kind and most of them will fall into treatment of some kind, whether it be behavioral health treatment or whether it be a room in the jail.

[00:08:45] Either way, we have a responsibility to make certain that people aren’t just sent along the way: ‘Go someplace else. We don’t care where.’ And I know that did not happen. So the teamwork that happens there is, it really is testimonial to the way Lane County as a whole operates, how the departments work together. And I’m most appreciative. Thank you very much for this.

[00:09:05] Presenter: Commissioner Ryan Ceniga:

[00:09:07] Commissioner Ryan Ceniga: Thanks everybody for being here. It’s really too bad you couldn’t drag Jane down. I’m sure she’s busy enjoying something, as she oftentimes brags to me about. I think she’s going to retire again soon.

[00:09:24] Yeah, I know Mr. Mokrohisky hit on it, and Commissioner Farr did again too, but over 400,000 pounds of trash on that piece of property is, it’s huge. And as the West Lane County commissioner, I want to say thank you. I mean, that was a huge, huge lift. I know it was.

[00:09:43] Weekly, I drive down that way, head to Florence, and before I was elected, when I was campaigning, I would hear about this piece of property, almost every time. And with ever-growing concerns about wildfire, this place had a fire going year-round, burning something, and those are huge health concerns that LRAPA should be on and that we should all be on board with getting rid of.

[00:10:09] So, yeah, I just want to say thank you. I know it takes a special person to be on the Compliance team. It’s a tough task. You’re stuck in the middle because, of course, we, Commissioner Trieger was leading to, these are people that are oftentimes struggling, so we want to keep them in their house, but we also need to protect the neighbors. So it’s a tough, tough position to be in. So thank you for what you do and appreciate it.

[00:10:33] Presenter: Commissioner David Loveall:

[00:10:35] Commissioner David Loveall: The trash figure, I did a quick math on that. That’s about a fourth of the daily trash we produce in Lane County.

[00:10:42] But yeah, this is a delicate balance, and this isn’t the only project that you’re working on. You work on a various amount of small projects that you have to care for folks’ needs, understand what’s going on, be the middleman, and stay safe. Because as we know, we live in a mentally-challenged environment with people that are struggling.

[00:10:59] So this is a very great testament to how the county balances the needs of the community and the needs of neighbors. And people like you, Jane, and Amber and Marcus and Mike and Keir and all the team, you guys understand that, that it’s a long-game process. And so I think the public needs to understand that the long-game is we want people to get better. But the other long game is we want people around those properties to be safe and the environment to be protected…

[00:11:24] Congratulations. This is a huge round of applause. This is a great project and a job well done. Thank you so much.

[00:11:33] Presenter: Lane County recognizes staff members who worked on a multiyear multidepartment effort  to support displaced residents and then remove hazards from a property off Poodle Creek Road.