Saving Rich Hill

[Gene C]

There are a lot of things the county or city can do if they want to. The county can condemn the property, come up with a lengthy list of repairs with a short compliance time. Since the owner appears to show little interest in using their own funds for additional investment in the property, he won't meet the counties requirements. The county can take it over to keep it from additional deterioration since it has historical value and in the public's best interest. If the taxes are behind, another reason to take control of the property. There are several things the county can do that can cause the owner substantial legal fees and repair cost to address. It becomes less costly for the property owner to sell it to the county at an appraised value or taxable value, than to keep having to pay legal expenses and reimburse the county for money spent to protect the property from further damage. The county knows how to get tough, when they want to.

In all of this, there needs to be a way of letting the owner save face, by letting the county take it over.