Shelby approves demolition of ‘unsafe’ house on 63

SHELBY – The Town Board approved demolition of an abandoned house at 5063 South Gravel Rd., next to the Oak Orchard Creek.

The house on Route 63 is “unsafe and dangerous” and the owner has not responded to notices from the town, said Code Enforcement Officer Dan Wolfe. The building cannot be safely repaired, he said during a Town Board meeting on Thursday.

Shelby officials will attempt to work with the highway department to knock down the structure and have those materials buried onsite. Or the building could be used for a training exercise by the fire department, Wolfe said.

He will try to get the structure removed in the cheapest way possible. Those expenses will then be put on the tax bill for the property.

Wolfe said he is making a push to focus on property maintenance violations around town, especially “junk properties” that are an eyesore and a blight for neighbors.

In his 13 years as the town’s code enforcement officer, Wolfe said Shelby has gone through the process of having four or five houses removed due to an unsafe condition.

In other action, the Town Board:

• Approved a $3,000 raise for Town Clerk Darlene Rich to set her base salary at $37,827, despite objections from Councilman Ryan Wilkins. Rich hasn’t received a raise in two-plus years, like other elected officials.

Wilkins said the town should treat all elected officials the same and not give raises to some and not others.

The other board members – Supervisor Jeff Smith, and council members John Pratt, Ed Zelazny and Steve Seitz – approved the raise for Rich. She recently came off the town’s health insurance policy.

• Appointed Dorothy Nolan as deputy town clerk and Lori Myhill as water clerk.

• Approved spending $1,300 to be part of an emergency notification system with the Village of Medina and Town of Ridgeway. That system will allow residents who sign up to be notified by text, email or phone calls of road closures, watermain breaks and other pressing matters.