15 West Kellogg Blvd.

Saint Paul, MN 55102

City of Saint Paul

Meeting Minutes - Action Only

Legislative Hearings

Marcia Moermond, Legislative Hearing Officer

Mai Vang, Hearing Coordinator

Joanna Zimny, Executive Assistant

legislativehearings@ci.stpaul.mn.us

651-266-8585

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

9:00 AM

Room 330 City Hall & Court House

9:00 a.m. Hearings

Remove/Repair Orders

Ordering the rehabilitation or razing and removal of the structures at 887

CHARLES AVENUE within fifteen (15) days after the May 1, 2024, City

Council Public Hearing.

RLH RR 24-17

Bowie

Sponsors:

Layover to LH July 9, 2024 at 9 am. PO to submit financing, affidavit, work

plan/schedule and bids by COB July 5.

Laid Over to the Legislative Hearings due back on 7/9/2024

Ordering the rehabilitation or razing and removal of the structures at 1117

JENKS AVENUE within fifteen (15) days after the April 19, 2023, City Council

Public Hearing.

RLH RR 23-10

Yang

Sponsors:

Layover to LH June 25, 2024 to discuss bids and timeline.

Laid Over to the Legislative Hearings due back on 6/25/2024

Ordering the rehabilitation or razing and removal of the structures at 378 SIMS

AVENUE within fifteen (15) days after the December 20, 2023, City Council

Public Hearing. (Amend to remove within 15 days)

RLH RR 23-58

Kim

Sponsors:

Layover to LH June 25, 2024. PO to submit revised scope of work, schedule, bids and

affidavit.

Laid Over to the Legislative Hearings due back on 6/25/2024

Ordering the rehabilitation or razing and removal of the structures at 1156

LINCOLN AVENUE within fifteen (15) days after the June 12, 2024, City

RLH RR 24-20

Council Public Hearing. (June 11, 2024 Legislative Hearing)

Noecker

Sponsors:

Refer back to LH July 9, 2024 at 9 am for update on status of cleanout, inspection

readiness, and partnership with a third party.

Dana Henjum, contractor, appeared

Sharon Compton, local court appointed guardian o/b/o owner, appeared via phone

Jesse McWilliams, interested party and son of owner, appeared via phone

Karen Kelly, Clark Co Nevada conservator/ guardian, appeared via phone

Terrill Judie, Clark Co Nevada conservator/ guardian, appeared via phone

Moermond: I know we talked last time about cleaning up the exterior and making it

safer.

Staff update by Supervisor Joe Yannarelly: it has been cleaned up and looks great

from the exterior.

Moermond: that’s great. What I was wanting to know more about is the status report on

what is going on. We have a house with heavy content.

Compton: heavy is saying it conservatively.

Moermond: many are personal items with limited value, and some do have value.

You’re in the business of making an inventory of those items. That is all a precursor to

doing an inspection

Compton: we’re trying to get the good items out of the house, off site, so we can make

progress. I have to get them appraised and auctioned. I have rented a storage unit to

move this stuff to. It is quite a bit of work just getting into the house. People are still

trying to break in. We have two people interested in becoming the third party to fix it

up. One is Tom and one is Dave. I spoke to Joanna about it. They’re coming in with a

couple of bids. Tom’s is basically to tear it down and rebuild. Dave is wanting to rehab.

We will be taking one of those. They aren’t as high as we like. One room alone is

waste deep in shredded newspaper. It is slow going. Dave would get the taxes paid and

then work to get it done.

Moermond: is it possible you are all there together and Mr. Yannarelly has the ability to

take photos of the way things are now. What I’m looking for are photos of how things

are now, so we can get progress reports on decreasing volume so I can show the

Council and have for the legal record that things are moving along. I can work with you

as long as I’m seeing progress.

We could get a progress report in a month from Joe.

Compton: we have a pretty good understanding of what needs to happen. We’re also

trying to work on this from the financial end. I’m trying to find people who can hold their

bills until we get to the end versus Nevada having to keep shelling out money to keep

going. I’m going to carry as much as I can, so I’m anxious to get it done as well.

Everything in there is an antique. The stuff was nice at one time. You have to sort

through what is valuable, what is garbage, what is burnt. We want to be sensitive to

Mr. McWilliams and also that nothing is disappearing. So I need to trust who is

cleaning it out that it won’t get stolen. We’ll get there.

Hejum: both Tom and Dave understood the good items would be removed and they’d

deal with the dumpster items. Things that are destroyed. There is no damage in the

basement, it just has to be removed, but it is full. Main floor is 40/60 good to bad. The

third floor has a lot of damage, and the attic is full of stuff but it is all fire and water

damaged. Their thought was they would deal with what was no good.

Compton: we have to make sure it is indeed junk. We’re still trying to pay for Mr.

McWilliam’s care. We have to do our due diligence.

Henjum: they’ve both brought in their “people” and seem to have a good understanding

of what repairs are needed Electric, missing copper, the whole attic has to be

removed. They each brought in a team. They understand St. Paul and the rules, so

they aren’t naive going into this.

Compton: once we secure an agreement with one of them they can get dumpsters so

they can deal with the garbage and we’d take the good stuff. We haven’t found any

bodies, animals, or needles. It is mainly soot and trash.

Henjum: there’s plywood on the roof that seems to be doing a good job. We can tell if

it has been breached. I called St. Paul Police Department on a Sunday to clear the

building.

Compton: can we put chain link up around it to keep it safer. It would maybe help keep

intruders away.

Henjum: we put up solar powered motion lights, we cleaned up the brush.

Yannarelly: the more light and the more clearance is usually the most helpful, which

you’ve done. Light and visibility is best.

Compton: I did ask the St. Paul Police Department to patrol more too, more of a

presence.

Yannarelly: even cameras, real or pretend.

Moermond: were you to move forward with a fence permit, you can get as much as a 7’

fence, but only from the front face back, and then only 4’ from the front forward. That

lack of a high fence in a front kind of diminishes the value of fencing. You’d need a

variance to do a fence higher than that, which is trickier on a corner. Are there getting

in there and just sleeping?

Compton: they break in, they use it as a restroom, but I don’t know where they’d be

sleeping. They punch holes in the plywood.

Yannarelly: someone that determined isn’t doing it to sleep. They think there is buried

treasure.

Moermond: I’m thinking pushing this 4 weeks to July 9. Ms. Kelley, thoughts and

questions?

Kelly: Mr. Judie is here with me. We don’t have follow up questions. We meet regularly

with Ms. Compton to get updates and make decisions. We’re in complete agreement

with everything she’s said.

Moermond: Mr. McWilliams any comments?

McWilliams: there are 1,500 pages of assets including paintings that would be over

$230,000. We’d like to approve anything before it is sold.

Moermond: I have to stick with Ms. Compton and Clark County’s office and their

decisions.

McWilliams: I’ve been working along with Sharon on this. Receiving the scanned

catalog pages. My father inventoried all the items. They had all the information of all

the assets in the duplex. It is a good basis to determine the value of each item.

Compton: because of the photos I sent to Jessie he showed me where the binders

were that had these things, as well as card indexes. There is so much it is hard to

match it up right now. I’m going to take it of value and put it offsite. The good assets

will be moved to the storage and I’ll send you photos of those.

McWilliams: even the damaged items still hold value. Everything needs to be

preserved.

Compton: keep in mind, you’re dealing with someone who has a hard time throwing

things away, but if it has even a hint of value I will be saving it.

Moermond: we’ll continue this to July 9 and we can check in about status of cleanout

and you’ll have follow up on the status with the rehabbers.

Referred to the City Council due back on 6/12/2024

Ordering the rehabilitation or razing and removal of the structures at 41

MILLER CREST LANE within fifteen (15) days after the July 17, 2024, City

Council Public Hearing.

RLH RR 24-23

Johnson

Sponsors:

Layover to July 9, 2024 at 9 am for further discussion. PD must be posted by COB

July 12, 2024.

Laid Over to the Legislative Hearings due back on 7/9/2024

Ordering the rehabilitation or razing and removal of the structures at 2117

MOHAWK AVENUE within fifteen (15) days after the July 17, 2024, City

Council Public Hearing.

RLH RR 24-24

Johnson

Sponsors:

Layover to July 9, 2024 at 9 am for further discussion. PD must be posted by COB

July 12, 2024.

Laid Over to the Legislative Hearings due back on 7/9/2024

11:00 a.m. Hearings

Summary & Vehicle Abatement Orders

Appeal of Gonzalo R. Sanchez to a Summary Abatement Order at 1040

BUSH AVENUE.

RLH SAO 24-34

Yang

Sponsors:

Layover to LH June 25, 2024 at 1 p.m. PO to have yard cleaned up and electrical

permit applied for by June 24.

Laid Over to the Legislative Hearings due back on 6/25/2024

Appeal of Anh-Duyen Van Pham to a Vehicle Abatement Order at 705

MARYLAND AVENUE EAST.

RLH SAO

24-29

Yang

Sponsors:

Grant to October 1, 2024 for completion of parking pad (per approved site plan).

Referred to the City Council due back on 6/26/2024

Making finding on the appealed nuisance abatement ordered for 1322

SHERBURNE AVENUE in Council File RLH SAO 23-45.

RLH SAO

24-36

Jalali

Sponsors:

The nuisance is abated and the matter resolved.

Referred to the City Council due back on 6/26/2024

1:00 p.m. Hearings

Vacant Building Registrations

Appeal of Vivian Vaaj to a Vacant Building Registration Requirement at 1153

CENTRAL AVE WEST.

RLH VBR

24-32

Bowie

Sponsors:

Waive the VB fee for 90 days (to August 24, 2024). If Fire C of O is reinstated prior to

that date, VB file will be closed.

Referred to the City Council due back on 6/26/2024

Appeal of David Abbott to a Vacant Building Registration Renewal

Requirement at 1818 GRAND AVENUE.

RLH VBR 24-33

Jost

Sponsors:

Layover to LH June 18, 2024 at 1 pm for further discussion.

Laid Over to the Legislative Hearings due back on 6/18/2024

1:30 p.m. Hearings

Orders To Vacate - Fire Certificate of Occupancy

Appeal of Cynthia Johnstone, Tenant, to a Fire Inspection Correction Notice at

1352 SEVENTH STREET WEST, UNIT 1.

RLH VO 24-20

Noecker

Sponsors:

Grant to July 1, 2024 for compliance. Property to be reinspected on July 1, 2024 at

12:30 p.m.

Referred to the City Council due back on 6/26/2024