Published: May 14, 2009 12:04 pm      

Planning director names the seven worst

McAlester city councilors Tuesday declared seven homes as dilapidated and dangerous, clearing the way for their demolition by either a city-hired contractor or the property owners.

“We have determined these to be the most seven most dangerous or dilapidated structures in our community at this time,” Peter Stasiak told the council.

Stasiak, the city’s director of Planning and Community Development, said each of the homes is unoccupied.

The locations of the homes, and their owners, are:

• 2809 N. Pittsburg, Clarence Nobles, of McAlester

• 2622 N. Ash, Jolene Culp, of Camdenton, Mo.

• 203 W. Madison, Linnie Surber, of Canadian

• 719 W. Adams, Jimmy Forrester, of McAlester

• 524 W. Cherokee, Jayna Beene, of Hartshorne

• 1007 E. Seminole, Raphael Rosseno, of McAlester

• 415 E. Wichita, Yvonne Collins, of McAlester.

According to Stasiak, Collins had been in contact with the city about doing the condemnation herself and had paid a $2,500 deposit for a permit for the work.

Ward Five councilman Buddy Garvin asked Stasiak about one of the properties, which he believed was where a prison warden, Jess Dunn, and a deputy had been killed in 1941 while apprehending four escapees from Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Three of the prisoners were killed in the incident, and the fourth was later executed.

Garvin hoped that once the property was cleared the city council, with permission from the owner, could establish a memorial of some type to the officers, and Stasiak said he would work with the councilman on the project.

City Building Inspector Dennis Lalli said this morning that each property owner was notified by certified mail and a placard posted on the property on April 20, although mailings sent to Nobles and Rosseno were returned as undeliverable. Also notified were any mortgage-holders for the properties, Lalli said.

Next, the building inspector said the property owners will have about 30 days to remove any personal belongings before bids are taken for the demolition work. Once that work is finished, the property owners will be billed the cost for the demolition and “dump fees,” the cost to the dispose of the demolished material at the city’s landfill. Lalli said that if those bills are not paid, they would be attached as liens against the properties.

Contact Kandra Wells at kwells@mcalesternews.com.