Springfield landlord gets temporary reprieve

Local landlord Will Hunter will have a reprieve until next week, when the Select Board formally appoints its new assistant administrative officer.

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Springfield landlord gets temporary reprieve Rutland Herald | April 05, 2017 By SUSAN SMALLHEER STAFF WRITER SPRINGFIELD — Local landlord Will Hunter will have a reprieve until next week, when the Select Board formally appoints its new assistant administrative officer. Hunter, who was under a March 29 deadline to clean up four properties in Springfield under the town’s nuisance ordinance, has done very little, according to Bill Kearns, the town’s administrative officer. Last month, Town Manager Tom Yennerell appointed Paul Stagner to be the town’s new code enforcement officer. Stagner also is a captain in the Springfield Fire Department and the code enforcement position, newly created, is part-time. Kearns said it made sense to have Stagner issue the nuisance ordinance violation notices to Hunter, since it will be Stagner who has to go to court to represent the town on the matter. Stagner has to be appointed as Kearns’ assistant by the Select Board in order to issue the violations, Kearns said. As a result, Hunter won’t be ticketed for daily violations for each property until next week, he said. Kearns said he had toured Hunter’s properties in Springfield and North Springfield on Tuesday morning — properties that were supposed to be cleaned up by last week. He said little, if anything, had been done. ”He’s done a tiny bit of work,” said Kearns. “As my wife would say, ‘He’s cleaned — kinda, sorta, not really.’” Kearns said a garbage bin at the School Street property in North Springfield was full, but it didn’t appear the items inside had made a dent in the debris still outside the building. Likewise, at the property on Chester Road, debris has been moved to the back of the building, but it is still visible from a public road, Kearns said. Big piles of debris still exist at the Furnace Street property, as well, he said. Hunter, who has been in hot water with the town over a variety of issues concerning his rooming houses, as well as the nuisance violations at other properties he owns, said he is working to clean up the problems. “What I’ve said all along is I accept criticism that things need to be cleaned up. I want to be collaborative, not confrontational,” said Hunter. “I don’t want this to be a fight. I want them to be happy. If we have a few more days,” he said. “I want to be cooperative, but I also want the expectations to be reasonable. What is junk? Nuisance has a clearly established meaning in law.” On Monday, Hunter said he was hampered by the recent snowfall. But Kearns said the nuisance problem first surfaced in the summer of 2016 “when there wasn’t any snow.”