Marilyn Stewart of the Historic Preservation Commission came before the city council this week to offer her apology—and to call the council into action. Stewart said she was unaware of the nuisance standards already in the city codebook that would address issues related to neglected properties along Smith Street in the Historic Uptown District, but those ordinances should be better enforced.

There are existing city standards for buildings, covered under the nuisance ordinances, that would “address many of the problems we have on Smith Street, as well as elsewhere in the city,” she told the council. Stewart apologized for being ignorant of the existing regulations.

She went on to encourage the council to enforce current code and eliminate some of the nuisance properties that the Historic Preservation Commission considers an eyesore to the historical district.

“We sent Mr. (Jim) Froeschner letters that he would not accept. The city should be able to go ahead and alleviate that problem,” Stewart explained. “It could’ve been taken care of. The ordinance is here. Why isn’t it being done? Mr. Froeschner has been a pain for years, but he’s not the only one. There are other buildings (in the uptown district) that stink to high heaven. There are no reasons why those things cannot be cleaned up. They are definitely a public hazard. How do I move forward with this? I’ve talked with Bob (Baldwin, public works director) and I’d like to move forward with Mr. Froeschner.”

Alderman Les Murdock said if the proper ordinance is in place, then “we’ll have to follow it. We have attempted to work with (Froeschner) in the past.”

Baldwin said Froeschner has “become an expert at avoiding us. The problem we’ve had in the past is notification and going through the proper notification process. We’re going to have to enter the building, and that’s part of the problem. It isn’t just on the outside.”

Murdock recommended that Baldwin “get going” on the problem and try to “move ahead with it. Let’s get this off the board. We’ve been talking about it for too long.”

Stewart previously appeared before the council on Nov. 2 to ask for amendments to the codebook that would address deteriorating buildings in the historic district. She said the commission was having difficulties in getting some property owners to maintain quality standards for their buildings and it was having a negative effect on the neighboring properties. Froeschner’s vacant building on Smith Street, which had housed the Head Start program, was specifically named as one that needs improvements made to it, although Stewart pointed out it isn’t the only one.