Board of Works take further aim at derelict properties
Dec. 16—Wednesday's Logansport Board of Works agenda again had properties that needed cleaning up under code — this time, eight of them.
Three of those were houses with multiple violations over the years, but most had been cleaned up or were on their way to being taken care of.
However, board member Lisa Terry made an observation about the properties and the feral cat population. There's a parallel between the two because debris and piled trash provide hiding spaces.
A recent cleanup on Canty Street turned out about 80 to 100 feral cats, Terry said.
Terry is also director of the Cass County Humane Society and has been behind a program to capture and sterilize feral cats.
The cats are returned to their territory to keep other feral cats from moving in.
Because they're wild, the cats wouldn't make good pets, Terry said.
One of the houses that was before the board on Wednesday for multiple violations was in the 1300 block of Smead Street and property of the INDYRE LLC company.
That company is one of four owned by Vinod Gupta of Florida, and those companies own multiple rentals and rent-to-own houses in the city.
The board members have previously taken a stance on Gupta's properties because of multiple and repeated violations of city code. Because of the number of houses in violation and lack of communication with Gupta, the board members had adopted a zero-tolerance policy toward his properties.
However, the property on Smead had already been cleaned up, so the board did not assess a fine.
Kristie Doty, who manages Gupta's properties with her husband, was present at the meeting.
Doty told the board members that they have developed a system of checking all the properties every three to four days.
She declined to comment after the meeting.
Logansport Code Enforcement Officer Randy Ulery said Gupta has talked with the city, and there's good communication with the building commissioner's office now, as well as timely cleanups.
"They have done a real good job of staying in contact with us and staying on top of properties," Ulery said.
Reach James D. Wolf Jr. at james.wolf@pharostribune.com or 574-732-5117
Twitter @JamesDWolfJr
