The county is putting the old Thrasher place on the auction block in an effort to recoup at least part of the $252,828.79 it spent cleaning up what was legally defined a “junkyard” and referred to as an “eyesore” by many.
The auction will be at the Milam County Courthouse at 10 a.m. on Aug. 3
“This is a bid process and we will accept the highest bidder,” said Milam County Judge Steve Young.
The two properties that will be sold are: PID 11370, 3.086 acres, 1328 E. Cameron Ave., and PID 11564, .8114 acres, 1300 E. Cameron Ave.
“A little over two years ago we passed a resolution to, so speak, to incorporate the enforcement requirements of the health and safety code to make them applicable here in Milam County,” Young said at a May commissioners court meeting.
Getting to the auction of the Thrasher property has been a long haul.
In March, 2018, a Rockdale Reporter story said, Thrasher was found guilty in Rockdale Municipal Court on six counts of keeping a junkyard within 1,000 feet of a highway and was assessed the first in a series of fines. There were repeated attempts at forcing a property cleanup by the city and county, including a 30-day deadline to begin cleanup, a deadline which was not met.
In June of 2019, Thrasher was indicted by a Milam County grand jury for bail jumping/failure to appear after missing a court date and was arrested.
In September, after missing another court date, he was indicted again on the same charge and was again arrested and fined. At that point his fines alone amounted to over $120,000.
There are about 10 other properties that the county wants to clean up in different stages of litigation.
The aforementioned Thrasher place is the first one to get cleaned and placed on the auction block.
“It was a real mess,” Young said.
The lots are near the east entrance of Rockdale. The property now looks nothing like it did when the cleanup process began. There is now a sign saying Milam County is a clean place to live.
When the county hears of or finds a property that is violation of the code, it begins a process that can have one or many steps.
“We say mister landowner you’ve got a health and safety violation on your property. Please clean it up. And they have 30 days.”
Once a property owner has gotten the cleanup notice, they can either clean up the land or request a hearing to determine whether or not the clean-up order has merit.
If the county doesn’t hear from the landowner within the allotted time, then the county can step in and clean up the property.
“Once we clean it up, we can assess the cost of the cleanup to the property owner,” Young said.
“That is what the county did to Thrasher,” he said. “And we are going to do that throughout the county.”
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