Within about a month, debris should be clear of property that once housed the old Simpson County hospital building, and grass will be sown, Franklin City Manager Kenton Powell said.

Remnants of structures on the property should begin being pulled down today, and everything should be leveled by the end of the coming week, he said.

There also is a basement on the property that needs to be filled in, Powell said.

Fire struck the old Carter Moore Hospital building in the summer of 2012. At the time, the building was already on the city’s radar to be demolished.

Property owned by Michael V. Stewart, 207 S. College St., was demolished against his wishes shortly after the fire at the adjacent building. A city building inspector contended that the structure was unsafe after the fire. 

Stewart protested its surprise demolition and was allowed a brief time to go in and gather some belongings before the demolition. He filed suit in U.S. District Court in July 2012 stating, among other things, that his civil rights had been violated. The city has since purchased the property, but the suit hasn’t been settled.

Powell plans on making a presentation to the Franklin City Commission on March 10 on the work that has been done on the hospital property and nearby.

By that point, grass should be sown on the cleared land, Powell said.

Franklin has about six condemned properties on the city’s list to be demolished, he said.

Under the city’s abandoned property ordinance, buildings that are unoccupied over the course of several years can be assessed a higher tax rate, Powell said.

Money gained from that tax is placed into a special fund for removing blighted structures, he said. This year, about $70,000 is expected to be raised for the fund.

Code enforcement officers monitor properties and update the list of abandoned properties once a year, Powell said.

If a code enforcement officer decides that a building needs to be condemned, an order has to be approved by a building inspector as well as the city manager and city attorney, he said.

Property owners are sent notice of the order, and they have about 45 days to respond, Powell said.

After that point, the city can move to tear it down if there is no response. A lien is placed on the property for the cost of the demolition.

However, Powell said the city tries to work with homeowners to get properties repaired and cleaned up.

“We go so far to try to communicate and try to reach out,” he said.

The city is trying to be consistent about taking care of blighted properties a little each year, Powell said.

During the economic downturn, the city had to pull back on such efforts because of the cost, he said.

Now, however, Franklin officials are making more of an effort to take care of such properties, Powell said. As they do so, values of homes go up.

“A lot of these things are beginning to slowly improve,” he said.

Dealing with blighted property is something the city of Morgantown hopes to address soon, Mayor Linda Keown said.

The city’s regulations that deal with blighted and nuisance properties need to be updated and strengthened, she said. “I think if your city is going to go anywhere in the future, you’re going to have to make a good first impression,” Keown said.

The city’s current procedure for dealing with blighted property is to send a registered letter to the property owner asking them to correct the problems with their property and speak to them about the issues, she said.

Dilapidated property is becoming a problem in Morgantown, Keown said.

“I do think it is something we all need to work on,” she said.

A blighted property ordinance is just one thing the city needs to update, Keown said. Morgantown officials also are working to update things such as strategies for signage and sidewalk installation.

“We’re quite behind in our ordinances,” she said.

Morgantown officials have been visiting and speaking with people from other cities in the region to learn about how they tackle the problem of dilapidated properties to get ideas for a new approach, Keown said.

 — Follow government writer Katie Brandenburg on Twitter at twitter.com/BGDNgovtbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.