Cole County trashed house gets cleaned up

During the summer ABC 17 News reported on a house in Jefferson City filled with trash, including soiled diapers, cockroaches and debris. Since then, Ott Property Services has worked hard to clean up the property, bringing it up to code.

Although they did not want to go on camera, several neighbors have told us that the home still has work to be done and that they are not happy with the trailers pull of debris out front and the boarded up windows.

“What it was when they were working on it during the summer and the way it is now, like I told the workers, it’s a thousand times better and that’s probably an understatement,” says Mike Sapp, compliance officer for the Cole County Health Department.

ABC 17 News confirmed the home at 813 Schumate Chapel Road is now up to standards and has no health or code violations.

Sapp says, “They had some tenants in their that basically destroyed the place, they left trash, everything from dirty diapers to clothing, everything on the exterior and interior.”

While crews have been working on the home for more than 4 months, there is still more work to be done. The health department’s main concern is exterior public safety and making sure that no disease harboring insects or animals are on the property.

“The health department is not so concerned, someone can choose to live however they wish to, it’s when they start affecting public health, the department gets involved,” says Sapp.

Sapp says he has not heard of any recent complaints from neighbors about the property, but he will continue checking on it as he sees needed.

“Keep checking on the property, I’ll keep talking with the contractor that is out there, as he had an employee out there earlier today, and see where his plans are and let him know what the concerns that you relayed to me that you’re getting, because the health department had not received any of those complaints”, says Sapp.

Cole County officials say they are going to try to get a timeline from the owners as to when the property will be finished, but they do not have to enforce that deadline.

ABC 17 also tried contacting the contracting company for comment Tuesday, however they were unable to respond to our messages.