BP couple fights unenforced ordinance

It turns out, you really can fight City Hall.
Three days after Shelby Parks pleaded his case in front of the Blooming Prairie City Council, he and the city reached a resolution about how to handle the aftermath of a city ordinance that had long gone unheeded.
When Parks and his wife, Christy, bought their first house in June, they had big plans for it – including finishing the basement to provide more room for their family of six.
What they didn’t plan for was a sewer line collapse – or the battle that would follow.
Parks said he noticed the wet floor “as soon as I moved in. I thought it was rainwater, because in the disclosure (document), they’d noted that there had been water in the basement at times.”
Within a week, though, he realized it wasn’t rainwater; it was sewage. And soon, it was ankle-deep.
Two weeks after moving his family in, Parks moved them all out – and got to work finding out what had happened.
What he learned was that his sewer service line was made of orangeburg, a material that has been called “a glorified combination of asphalt-coated paper and wood pulp.” It was a cheaper option, marketed to last 50 years, but often failed at half of that, he said.
But Parks learned something else: The City of Blooming Prairie has a city sewer ordinance, which reads in part: “Any person desiring to transfer ownership of property within the city … shall have an inspection conducted of the property to determine if the property is in violation … by having a connection of roof downspouts, foundation drains, areaway drains, sump pumps or other sources of surface runoff or ground water to a building sewer or building drain, which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer.”
The ordinance was created to ensure the city’s sewer plant isn’t treating excess water that doesn’t need to be treated – like a sump pump being emptied directly into the sewer system. While the purpose of the inspection isn’t to check on the viability of the line, the report would make note of issues that may be visible.
According to Parks’ history of the property, its last sewer inspection was in 2005, though the property has been sold twice since.
That 2005 inspection report said that the sewer line was starting to deteriorate. City officials shared the 16-year-old report with Parks’ real estate agent in April 2021, but Parks said he was never told about it. The sellers – if they knew – didn’t disclose it.
“So, I paid $250,000 for a house that we can’t live in,” Parks said at last week’s Blooming Prairie City Council meeting. “The city and the Realtor knew (an inspection) should’ve been done, but neither of you made sure it was. I had a bad sewer line and an illegal sump pump, and I had no idea. You guys haven’t done your job for 16 years.”
City Administrator Andrew Langholz said  multiple times that the city hadn’t followed the ordinance properly. He said the administrative staff had been told inspections only needed to be done once, and new houses didn’t need an inspection at all.
“Obviously, this is not in line with our ordinance, and I’ve instructed staff that every property must be inspected at the time of the sale, regardless of whether an inspection had been done at the property previously,” Langholz said in a memo to the council members.
“Are you telling me the city has no accountability for not flagging my house?” Parks asked Langholz. The ordinance “is very, very clear, and you just admitted it. I love Blooming Prairie. I’ve lived in this town my whole life, and you guys have failed me. I have one week left, and then what? We become homeless?”
After they moved out in July, the family stayed with friends and extended family members.
Eventually, Parks’ insurance company paid for a hotel for his family of six. They are staying in Austin, driving their four children to Blooming Prairie for school every day.
“You’re responsible, too,” said Brad Clark, a Blooming Prairie council member. “You should have had an inspection done.”
“I did,” Parks said, “but not this specific inspection. I’ve followed the procedures – you guys haven’t.”
In fact, Parks said later, it was Mayor Curt Esplan who did a “typical” home inspection before they bought the house.
“I don’t think you’re hearing me,” he told the city council. “The city and the Realtor knew (a sewer inspection) should’ve been done. Now that all this has happened, you tell me ‘it wasn’t interpreted properly.’ Are you in cahoots with (the Realtor) or what the hell?”
But Council Member Bill Newman said Parks had a valid point.
“The city’s responsible for upholding a law,” he said, taking exception with the fact that the city isn’t necessarily informed of every transfer of property.
“Then why have an ordinance, if you don’t know about the houses for sale?” Newman asked.
“A lot of towns don’t have that ordinance,” Langholz said. “Unfortunately, we found out that it wasn’t being followed too late for Mr. Parks.”
One possibility was for the city to make the line repair and assess the cost to Parks over a period of years.
That’s what was decided Friday at a work session to discuss the issue.
Parks has found a repair service that agreed to repair the line for $5,000, a significant discount. The city will pay upfront, then assess the cost to the property, interest-free, for five years.
The family’s $2,500 insurance deductible covers the hotel stay and the subsequent cleaning of the house – which will happen as soon as the repair is made. Parks said that could all happen by the end of the month.
A GoFundMe was set up for the family last week to help with the unexpected expenses.
Still, “I’ve had to get my house payment deferred,” Parks said. “My credit has dropped 146 points.  you have no idea what this has done to our family.”
He is still in negotiations with the real estate agent and her company, and hopes he won’t be responsible for any of the repairs, including the now-assessed costs.
“I’m glad the city at least listened to what I said,” Parks said Friday. Though he’d spoken with an attorney, “I really didn’t want this to go any further. I just want to get back in my house.”