Dover Drive cleanup waiting on resident’s return

June Casagrande

Residents who have been waiting decades for a cluttered Dover Drive

home to be cleaned up are going to have to wait a little longer.

The city attorney’s office and an outside counsel have extended

the deadline for Elmer Thomassen to submit documents pertaining his

home at 1918 Dover Drive while Thomassen is in Reno, Nev., for

medical treatment.

Thomassen had asked the city to give him until Friday to submit

some documents. He had also asked to meet with city officials to come

to an agreement about what should be done at the property.

Last week, city officials got word from Thomassen that he was in

Reno for medical treatment, and they received a faxed note from a

doctor verifying his claim.

“It’s kind of hard to go forward if he’s physically incapacitated

and not in the area,” Assistant City Atty. Dan Ohl said. “Once he

gets back, he’s going to have to get his act together.”

Thomassen could not be reached for comment on Monday. However his

wife, Joan Thomassen, said that the family hopes to correct the

situation.

“We’re working on it,” she said. “It’s an ongoing project.

Hopefully, we’ll have some good news for you soon.”

City officials expect to speak with Elmer Thomassen again next

week to schedule a meeting with him. In the meantime, the city has

put together a list of items that the city wants corrected at the

home.

One of the points on the nine-point list asks Elmer Thomassen to

“remove the accumulation of rubbish, trash, debris, bags of cement,

dried leaves and branches, wood pallets, opaque and black visquine,

broken-up concrete (rip-rap) under the black plastic, the chrome

chair, miscellaneous roof tiles, brick remnants, broken concrete

blocks, old wood doors lying on their side to approximate a makeshift

fence, numerous tires, an umbrella, trash cans, cardboard boxes,

miscellaneous wood, plastic buckets, lawnmower, old bicycle parts,

car door” and 18 other items city officials have documented as

littering the yard.

Complaints of such problems at the property date back to 1961.

After attorneys meet with Elmer Thomassen, the matter will go to

the city manager then to the City Council, which may vote to take the

matter to court, Ohl said. If the family doesn’t cooperate, the city

will ask the court to grant permission for city staff to enter the

property to clean it up.

“I think he realizes we mean business,” Ohl said.

Go and Do Likewise, a local church group, has offered to help

Elmer Thomassen clean up the property, said Terry DeBay, husband of

former Mayor Jan DeBay and member of the group.

Joan Thomassen said that her husband plans to take the group up on

its offer.

“That would be really great if that could work out,” said City

Councilman Don Webb, whose district includes the Dover Drive home.

“The city is planning on going forward in accordance with what is

legally correct.”