Clawson presents vacant property idea to Havre City Council

Havre homeowner Samantha Clawson suggested at Monday night’s Havre City Council meeting that the city adopt an ordinance aimed at curbing the number of vacant and dilapidated properties within the city.

Clawson, who is married to city council member Caleb Hutchins, urged the city to consider adopting a vacant property registry ordinance, or VPRO. A VPRO requires landowners to pay a fee for registering vacant properties and to maintain the property to certain standards.

A VPRO consists of a clear definition of which properties and parties must register, a registry that would be public and accessible, mostly by a website, and fees that can be used to support the registry and encourage property owners to either maintain or sell their properties to someone who will.

Clawson said she was spurred to take action in part by a series that ran in last year’s Havre Daily News about Sunrise Financial, an organization that has acquired properties within the city but does not maintain them or accept reasonable offers for them from willing buyers.

The city-county government of Butte-Silverbow County adopted a VPRO last year and others have been adopted by local governments throughout the U.S to address the issue of vacant and deteriorating properties, Clawson said.

She said that, many times, owners of such properties do not live in the city and do not have to deal with how vacant and derelict properties can diminish the quality of life in a community and lead to increases in crime, safety concerns and declining property values.

“VPROs can discourage companies such as Sunrise Financial from buying properties in Havre with no intention of developing them hoping that someday someone will need the property badly enough to pay well beyond on their actual value,” Clawson said, adding, “Property value comes with a responsibility to maintain the property and in the current system there are no financial repercussions to buy a property and keep it unused as long as they meet the minimum standards.

“Havre is filled with properties with boarded windows,” Clawson said. “What businesses are going to want to expand in that city, what homeowner is going to want to buy in that neighborhood?”

Kim Cripps, an area real estate agent and fifth-generation Havreite, asked if the city could look at implementing a blight ordinance that could be tied into a possible VPRO.

Council President Andrew Brekke said, based on what he understands about a VPRO, it has to deal with blight to define what constitutes a vacant property and the standards they must abide by.

Council member Ed Matter asked Mayor Tim Solomon if most of the properties Sunshine Financial owns are vacant lots.

Solomon said many of the properties Sunshine owns are vacant lots but there are many of other local properties that also need to be addressed, too.

Brekke said it should be pointed out that Sunrise does pay taxes on their properties

Clawson said that property taxes the city collects on the properties at accessed value of buildings that are in disrepair is far less than the property taxes they would get if those same properties were owned and maintained by someone.

City Council also unanimously confirmed Kevin Neill to be a firefighter with the Havre Fire Department. Havre Fire Chief Mel Paulson recommended Neill be hired, saying he had completed his six months probationary period and met all requirements to be employed by the Department.

“He’s had excellent evaluations from his captains, he has proven to be pretty valuable, and I think he will make an excellent addition to the fire department and an excellent employee to the city,” Paulson said.

 Several locals were presented with Environmental Hero awards by Recycle Hi-Line during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Sue Swan, who works to educate the public about the group’s work and recycling, gave Cripps an award.

Cripps, chaired for years the annual Havre Pride Day, where individuals pick up garbage throughout the city.

Cripps gave credit to Bonnie Bennett, a community volunteer who was active in Havre Pride and died in 2014.

Cripps said that, without Bennett’s help, she did not think she would have been as successful with Havre Pride.

Havre resident Val Murri presented Dave and Debi Rhines, owners of Shine Electric, with an award for their contributions to Recycle Hi-Line.

Murri said the Rhineses have “gone above and beyond” in helping with Recycle Hi-Line’s work such as by providing a trailer to the organization each month to collect recyclables.

Murri also presented an award to Swan.

“She recycles everything that is recyclable,” Muri said.

He said Swan has taken up multiple recycling activities including working with St. Jude Thaddeus School to collect phone books and collecting soaps from hotels which are then sent to an organization that sends the soaps to Third World countries.