MILFORD — Milford Town Council held a special meeting Monday, June 26, to devise a formula for assessing costs to the town incurred in the foreclosure of properties. Though the formula will apply to all future foreclosures, the meeting was deemed necessary to expedite proceedings on five Milford properties owned by Ron Davidhizar, who has refused to pay fines or bring the buildings into compliance.

“The town has invested a lot of time and effort to deal with this,” commented Dan Cochran. “This is all because he doesn’t want to play ball.” The council voted to assess a minimum cost of $500 per property with any costs “above and beyond” that amount added to the bill.

The fee is intended to cover administrative costs incurred by the clerk’s office, town attorney, building commissioner and utilities in the event the town is forced to use any of three options available to foreclose on violating properties.

Those options include: Filing costs with the circuit court, giving Davidhizar 30 days to object and go before a judge; assigning undisputable costs to the county auditor, taking at least one year, with the property being sold in a tax sale; and the third option, the most labor-intensive and costly for the town, which involves hiring a contractor and getting a list of repairs before either filing with the court or assigning costs to the auditor.

There are redevelopment funds available to the town if it chooses the third option, according to Joellen Free, treasurer.

In spite of repeated citations and fines in the amount of $2,500 per property, stretching back to September 2016, Davidhizar has refused to bring his properties into compliance. One house has been uninhabited for 15 years.