Resident denies property is nuisance

MARENGO — Marengo resident Audrey Loffer argued with the Marengo City Council last week that she didn’t deserve the notice to abatement nuisances at her home at 598 E. Hilton St.

Loffer was asked to abate the nuisances on her property after police noticed two “junk” cars and unmown grass, Police Chief Ben Gray said.

The city’s ordinance defines a junk vehicle as a vehicle with broken glass, or broken, loose or missing parts, a vehicle that is inoperable or in defection condition.

Weeds, brush, dense growth of weeds, vines, brush or other vegetation in the city that constitutes a health, saftety or fire hazard is considered a nuisance, City Ordinance 50.02 says.

Loffer’s abatement notice also noted a ladder, a pallet, construction equipment and a brush pile on the property, said Loffer.

Loffer told the council that the grass has been mowed since she received the nuisance notice. She said the ladder is lying on its side inside the fence and is not a nuisance.

The brush pile — yard waste from a recent storm — is in the fire pit and will be burned when it dries, Loffer said

Loffer didn’t know what police meant by “construction equipment” unless it referred to a pile of bricks she’s using in landscaping.

The “junk” vehicles run, she said.

Loffer said nuisance laws aren’t supposed to be used for harassment. She alleged that Marengo police are targeting her family.

Marengo Mayor Adam Rabe would not allow the accusations, telling Loffer to keep her comments to the nuisance abatement.

Loffer said she’s lived at the home for 35 years and her yard has never been considered a nuisance until now.

Loffer wasn’t fined, she said, but she was asked to abate the nuisances.

“The original thing that caught my attention was that the grass had not been mowed,” said Gray.

The other items mentioned were all surrounded by grass about six inches high. Gray had no idea how long they had been lying in the yard, he said.

“What stands out to me are the two vehicles,” said Councilman Travis Schlabach looking at photos provided by city.

One is drivable, said Loffer.

But the other has been tarped for years, Schlabach said.

The second vehicle hasn’t been moved and there are weeds around it which attracts insects, Gray said.

Loffer could have moved the car, abating the nuisance, Gray said.

Most people simply take care of the nuisances and let police know when the problems have been addressed, said Gray. Loffer chose not to communicate with police, he said.

According to Schlabach, the city at one time drove around town passing out nuisance abatement orders. He estimated that the city handed out about 130 of them. “It was a disaster,” he said.

The police department handed out 26 nuisance abatement notices last year, Schlabach said, and 20 so far this year.

Gray isn’t driving around town looking for nuisances, said Schlabach. “He’s just grabbing what they notice.”

Rabe said the city gets criticized for allowing nuisances on properties. They have to address it.

Councilwoman Jenni Olson asked Gray if he had checked the ladder to see if there was dead grass underneath, which would indicate that the ladder had been in the yard for a long time.

The ladder is not the issue, said Gray. It’s been abated. Loffer hasn’t asked police for an inspection. “That requires you have a communication with me,” Gray told Loffer.

Instead Loffer requested a hearing with the city council.

“If this ladder were the issue, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Gray said.

Grass was growing up through the ladder, said Schlabach. Obviously it had been there long enough for the grass to grow six inches.

Olson asked Gray if he had explained to Loffer how to abate the nuisances.

Gray said a person should know how to correct problems they are told to address.

“Yours is simple,” Schlabach told Loffer: move the vehicles, keep the weeds down.

The council gets criticized because Marengo looks bad, said Schlabach. “We get criticized nonstop.”

It’s an easy fix, Schlabach said.

“We’ll fix it,” said Loffer, but she doesn’t want to keep getting notices.

Gray suggested the council give Loffer seven more days to move the vehicle and 14 more days to address the other issues.

She was originally given 14 days for the vehicle, which has expired, and 30 days for the nuisance.

Gray told Loffer if she gets the nuisances taken care up before that, she can call him and he’ll mark her off his list.