Local Landlord Renovates Multi-Family on Falmouth Street

Falmouth Street, Rumford, Maine

Strathglass Park, Rumford, Maine

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Where Would YOU Rather Live if Forced to Live in an Apartment Building in Rumford?

Prospect Avenue Building Condemned By Rumford Code Enforcement Office

Multi-Family Apartment Building on Waldo Street

This Waldo Street Building Has NOT Been Condemned by the Rumford Code Enforcement Office, Three Families are Living Here, and The Owner was Issued a Blank Building Permit Despite the Obvious Mold Issues and Immediate Fire Hazards

This Franklin Street Multi-Family Apartment Building Was Condemned Without Prior Notification to the Building Owner

Condemned by Rumford Code Enforcement Office

This Two Family Penobscot Apartment Building was Also Condemned Without Giving the Owner a Due Process Right to Appeal

Two Family Apartment Building on Penobscot

Recent Uploads to TRR Info Sharing:

Code Enforcement Guide
An Act To Establish a Uniform Building Code
Code Enforcement Officer Job Description (Example)
Prospect Avenue Code Enforcement Violations (Woulfe)
Prospect Avenue Code Enforcement Violations (Kent)
Franklin Street Code Enforcement Violations (Kent)
Re-Inspection of Prospect Avenue (Kent)
Blank Building Permit Found at Waldo St Multi
Blank Building Permit in Window at Waldo St Multi
Building Permit at Prospect Avenue (Kent)
Life Safety Presentation by Fire Chief John Woulfe
Plan of Correction Example

Multi-Family Apartment Buildings in Boston Area

Owner Driven or Building Code Officer Driven?

Please tell us that replacing these windows was an owner driven decision. A lot of these multi-family apartment buildings do have the historical architecture and structural integrity to make them worthy of preservation. Now, if the owner decided to change out the windows to new and smaller windows to save on fuel costs that is one thing... If the Building Code Enforcer is telling a multi-family apartment owner that the windows need to be replaced with smaller windows so the bottom of the window is so many inches from the floor, we have a problem.

The Code Enforcer was trying to enforce this same "law" on another property owner here in Rumford. Here's the catch. How do other multi-family properties in New England get by without replacing the historic floor to ceiling windows? Here is how: they know better then to mess with the building's historical architecture because it adds significant value to a property. Historical architecture might be something that we take for granted but a lot of people go out of their way to purchase historical properties and fixtures. In fact, it is trendy.

These apartment buildings are what makes Rumford unique. We are able to offer housing for people who can't afford a house or are working towards purchasing a house. We are also able to market Rumford to big business because we can provide their employees with rental housing should the business decide to come to Rumford.

As a community, we must demand that we protect the ability to preserve the historic multi-family apartment buildings. For those who are not aware, in some cases you can even receive tax credits for preserving a historical structure.

For a copy of the State of Maine's Historic Notice of Agency Rule, please click here.

For the Maine Historic Preservation Commission Chapter 813 Rehab Tax Credit Rule, please click here.

Newly Renovated Property for Sale on Wyman Hill Road in Rumford

Contact Riverside Realty at 207-369-0100

Rumford Housing Stock

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Thank You Angel Mower, Thank You

Prospect Ave, Rumford

Penobscot Street, Rumford

These two infamous properties were on the market this winter if you didn't notice. But, soon they will be back on the rental market with someone local to manage them. Until recently, the person who owned these buildings was deemed an "absentee landlord" and demonized for putting his tenants in "harm's way."

Well let's enter the no spin zone and put things in perspective. But for the Sun Journal, all the drama that ensued during a property owner versus overzealous code inspector could have been avoided. It not only cost the town money for nothing (no pun intended) but it cost the property owner greatly as well. The owner was forced to evict all the tenants because he couldn't afford the laundry list of ridiculousness so he cleaned up after all the tenants, winterized the buildings, and put them on the market.

After some hard work on the part of the Town of Rumford and the Landlord Association, an agreement was met on what building code is appropriate for a one hundred year old community like Rumford. The focus was on ensuring tenants were safe while not making things so cost prohibitive that it would force a landlord out of business. These new standards now apply to our out-of-state landlord, right? Everything works out in the end. And, in this case, everything worked out for the Town of Rumford, the landlords, the tenants, and the victim of yet another Sun Journal character assassination. He is NOT a slum lord.

The guy who owns these buildings, the one from Massachusetts, yeah he's good people. His apartments are nice, he takes good care of the inside of the buildings, and was planning on taking care of the outside as well. He just didn't take into consideration all the people who feel entitled to just not pay their rent and to basically steal from the property owner. Oh and the messes they leave behind. They never paid the security deposit to begin with so they had nothing to lose. And, he was at another disadvantage. He didn't know the players in Rumford. He didn't know who doesn't pay their rent or plays games. He learned the hard way.

The number one reason this piece was written was to thank the person or persons who mowed the properties at Prospect Ave and Penobscot Street. It is very much appreciated and it just goes to show how God works in our lives. Thank you from the bottom of our heart for your kind deed. And yet another reason to LOVE Rumford.

Rumford Town Manager Internship Paper, Part XIV

Editor's Note: As part of the Master's Degree requirement for the Muskie School of Public Service, each student is required to do an Internship. I chose to do my Internship with the Rumford Town Manager at the time, Bob Welch. This Internship was accomplished in 2004-2005 and was by far one of the best experiences of my life. The original internship paper is 60 pages long so I will present them in a series of parts throughout the month.

While we are on the subject of property crime, I would like to address the reasons why our property crimes are most likely rising. We have over 200 multi-family apartment buildings in Rumford of which 186 of them were built on behalf of Hugh Chisholm in the early 1900s for his mill workers. The older properties have their fair share of maintenance issues and life safety code violations.

Our multi-family apartment buildings haven’t been very well maintained in Rumford and quite honestly some of them are just plain run down, dilapidated, abandoned, and an overall eyesore. And, because of the housing surplus in Rumford, the landlords cannot charge high rents because the guy next door will charge a lower rent and the person or family will move out of their apartment and into the cheaper one next door. This affects the overall rental housing market in the community.

Chief Woulfe wanted to start addressing some of the safety concerns with our multi-family apartment buildings because for the most part they were dangerous to the inhabitants. Chief Woulfe noted that the biggest problems were enclosed porches, only one means of egress from the apartment, no fire escapes, no fire doors, etc. One of our local landlords attempted to address this issue with Chief Woulfe. He told Chief Woulfe that if he was going to start enforcing the Life Safety Codes then he needed to do it all at once and not piece meal.

This property owner felt that if one landlord starts addressing the life safety codes and as a result has to raise the rent to cover the expenditures, the tenants will move out and into the apartment building next door where the rent is cheaper because that owner is not addressing the life safety code issues. Because of this, this landlord was concerned that if they started addressing the issues that in essence the good landlords would be punished for fixing up their place to meet code.

This landlord suggested that every apartment building be inspected, that the Town of Rumford give them a certain amount of time to come into compliance if they can come into compliance, and those buildings that don’t come into compliance would either be condemned or marked as not fit for human habitation. But, Chief Woulfe stated that he could not do this because he was only able to inspect one or two buildings a month, which means it would take him fifteen years to complete all of the inspections. He stated that his Code Inspection Officer did not have enough experience to do the inspections on his own.

If he only had 48 fire calls and he didn’t go out on the 361 duplication of service ambulance calls, then what was he doing? Chief Woulfe continued to justify his current procedure because he did not have a full-time code enforcement officer. In the meantime, he continued to inspect buildings piece meal and enforced the rules for some and didn’t enforce them for others costing people thousands and thousands of dollars for nothing and angering them because the rules were not enforced consistently town-wide.

As a result, we still have a surplus of apartment buildings with very cheap rents of which most are in desperate need of repair, we still have what looks like blight in our community, and we still have people living in buildings considered unsafe. Because Chief Woulfe was not willing to take on the project and tackle it from a holistic perspective, people have had to pay unnecessarily to fix up an apartment building while the guy next door never heard a word from either the Fire Chief or the part-time Code Enforcement Officer. This has depressed the overall rental housing market rates which brings the rest of the housing market real estate prices down in Rumford, too. We are in essence stuck in a cycle until we address the issue as a whole.

In the meantime, some of these multi-family apartment buildings have been abandoned or are not in use at this time. It is my assertion that if we didn’t have so many abandoned, dilapidated buildings in Town then we may not have as much property crime either. For example, if we invested just a little bit of the money we spend on the overstaffed union fire department into the building demolition and removal account then we would probably be reducing the property crime statistics as well. Just this last year alone, we had a fire started in a vacant building which indirectly caused four other buildings to burn to the ground. And, I would imagine that some of the other abandoned or empty properties are attracting young kids who just want to raise a little hell and cause some trouble because they are bored.

"Whenever and wherever societies have flourished and prospered rather than stagnated and decayed, creative and workable cities have been at the core of the phenomenon...Decaying cities, declining economies, and mounting social troubles travel together. The combination is not coincidental." - Jane Jacobs

These efforts would lend incredibly to the economic development efforts in Rumford. Enforcing the life safety codes fairly, giving landlords time to decide whether or not they want to invest in the property or not, and demolishing these unsafe buildings would be a great start to revitalizing our community. Some of these buildings may not be worth fixing up because structurally they are just so far gone that it is not worth it. It may not be possible for some of these buildings to be fixed up because of the layout or the fact that they are too close to the property line of another building. These things cannot be addressed until someone addresses them and gives the owners an option. In the meantime, they sit with inhabitants who are not safe, they sit empty, they sit abandoned, they sit dilapidated, and they bring down our entire real estate market.

We can definitely afford to rid ourselves of some housing in the community given the fact that we are half the population that we used to be and according to one of our local landlords, none of the third story apartments in Rumford are even occupied. Enforcing the life safety codes consistently, fairly, and appropriately would actually help the landlords who want to stay in the rental business because they could make sound investments in their buildings and collect on those investments by raising the rent a little.

When people are broke they are willing to take a chance even with their lives to save a buck. If their landlord raises the rent because they invested in the building, loses the tenant to the guy next door who isn't investing in his building, it ultimately hurts both parties. It is up to us to help them realize that their safety is of the utmost importance. So, in essence demolishing some of these buildings because the owners cannot or will not come up to code with life safety will help the Town of Rumford on many levels including beautification of the town, prevention of crime, and fires accidently or purposefully started by hoodlum teenagers.

To be continued...

Beautiful, Historic Rumford Homes on the Hill

A Kind, Caring, & Compassionate Judge Gives Two of the Tenants at 438 Waldo Street up to 30 More Days to Prepare for the Move

Editor's Note: This young woman had never been to court before and she was really scared so she put her thoughts down in writing before attending the court hearing in an effort to prepare her comments for the Judge.

Hi, my name is 438 Waldo Street Tenant and I have a three month old baby. I am currently on TANF and I receive $230 per month from that program and about $125 in food stamps. My rent at 438 Waldo Street in Rumford was $400 per month which included heat and electricity. I gave all of my money to the landlord to pay for rent, my grandfather gave me $100 a month towards my rent, and my friend gave me the remainder of the $70 to help pay the rent in full. I always paid my rent and here are the receipts to prove it.

On October 31st, I learned that my landlord, Betsy Williams, no longer owned the building at 438 Waldo Street. Apparently the tenants upstairs went to court for a case of nonpayment of rent with Betsy Williams. During this court case, it was revealed that the Town of Rumford had acquired the property at 438 Waldo street for nonpayment of back taxes.

In the beginning of November, I contacted the Town of Rumford and Town Manager, Len Greaney, and he said that he would pay them a visit shortly. He came to my home on or around 11/7/08. At that time, he stated that they had possession but not title of the property at 438 Waldo Street.

He offered to help me find a place and also offered to help pay for a security deposit with a $500 voucher. Len Greaney said don’t worry about paying November’s rent and use what money you have towards the baby and Christmas. He said the same thing to my next door neighbor, too.

With my November income ($230), I bought bottles, diapers, wipes, food, formula, and new outfits because my baby was growing out of her old clothing. I had a $100 left over.

I used the $100 for a Christmas present for a friend. I helped my friend pay a fine so that he could get his license back which would help him become more employable. This same friend was the friend who helped me pay the remainder of my rent every month which was roughly $70/month.

I packed all of my stuff, got ready to move to a place, and went to Thelma Giberson, the Welfare Director, to complete the paperwork. After completing the paperwork, Thelma sent me down to see Len Greaney but he was not available according to the Town Manager’s secretary, Terry Palmer.

I attempted to contact Len Greaney a couple more times but the Town Manager’s Secretary would not allow me to talk to him because he was too stressed out with other pressing items.

I received a Notice to Quit on or about November 24 which gave me 30 days to move and required that I be out of my home on December 24, Christmas Eve.

I finally got a hold of Len Greaney in the second week of December so I could talk to him about the voucher and prepare to move. Apparently, my neighbor got a voucher but I was not allowed to get a voucher and the tenant upstairs was not allowed to get a voucher because we did not pay November’s rent. Neither did the other tenant who got the voucher. I was also told that I would not get a voucher because of my friend’s background. The tenant upstairs was also told that he would not get a voucher because of his background. Apparently, they are both on the Sex Offender Registry. But, this is not true, my friend is not on the registry.

My friend called a local landlord and told him about the reasons why I couldn’t get my voucher and this landlord suggested that I bring that up in court because it sounded like discrimination.

In December, I got another $230 from TANF. I used $130 for the baby, i.e. formula, wipes, diapers, etc., so that she would not suffer in the least bit. I saved $100 towards rent. In January, I got another $230 from TANF, spent $130 on the baby and saved another $100 towards rent. I have a total of $200 to go towards rent for a new place.

I was not able to come up with the money to move by the 12/24/08 deadline and here we are in court because I just plain could not afford to move on my own without some help.

If they would have just helped me with the $500 voucher, it would have helped tremendously. I found a place for $350 a month including heat but it does not include lights and the landlord wants a $500 security deposit. The apartment is located in Mexico. I will come up with the remaining $150 with the help of my grandfather and my friend who does odd jobs to help me, otherwise I need more time.

Please give me more time to come up with some money so that my baby and I don’t end up on the streets. If the Town of Rumford wants me out right now, it would help if they would give me some help with the security deposit. I will take care of the rest. I just can’t come up with all the money right now. I am just barely making it from month to month but I am trying. I want to provide a good home for my daughter.

THIS TENANT DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO COME UP WITH RENT MONEY AND THE SECURITY DEPOSIT WITHIN 30 DAYS. THE JUDGE WAS WILLING TO GIVE BOTH TENANTS MORE TIME IF THEY NEEDED BUT THEY BOTH EXPLAINED TO THE JUDGE THAT AN ADDITIONAL 20-30 DAYS WOULD SUFFICE. THIS TENANT WAS GOING TO TELL HER STORY UNDER OATH KNOWING THAT THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH IS ALLOWED IN A JUDICIAL SETTING. THIS EXPERIENCE WAS EMPOWERING FOR THIS YOUNG WOMAN AND IT REMINDED HER THAT LIFE IS FAIR SOMETIMES.

More Beautiful Rumford Homes...

Rumford Planning Board Public Hearing Notice for January 7th at 7 p.m.

The Town of Rumford Planning Board will hold a Public Hearing on January 7, 2009 at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Building Conference Room to discuss acceptance of a 2009 Housing Assistance Program CDBG Grant.

The purpose of the grant is to rehabilitate housing stock in the core districts of Rumford and to make structurally critical repairs to historic brick and mortar duplexes in Strathglass Park for the benefit of low to moderate income residents in that area. Public comments will be solicited at this Hearing and will be submitted as part of the Project Development Phase. All persons wishing to make comments or ask questions about the acceptance of these funds are invited to attend this Public Hearing. Comments may be submitted in writing to: Leonard Greaney or Philip Blampied, 145 Congress Street, Rumford, ME 04276 prior to the Public Hearing. TDD/TYY users may call 711. If you are physically unable to access any of the Town's program or services, please call 364-4576, extension 212, so that accommodation can be made.

Gary Casey, Chairman
Planning Board

Is Poor a Crime? By Lou Marin

Editor' Note: The Town of Rumford has served the tenants of 438 Waldo Street with court papers. They have a court date set for January 8th. If the judge rules in favor of the Town of Rumford, the tenants will have 48 hours to get out. And, they still don't have enough money to move. The Town of Rumford refuses to help them financially in any way.

Is Poor a Crime?

The local newspaper in big bold letters

proclaimed, "tenants won't move."

They were criminals, lowlifes and thieves,

maybe even druggies or worse,

because they didn't pay the rent,

without remorse, into the street

they should be sent.

Crime and decadence is not what we see,

after peeling back layers of lies

to let the people's voice

speak loud and free,

but a family in need

of humanity and love,

not deserving to be victims of greed.

In the fine line between

the haves and have not's

in our community and world,

we unfortunately have hard working

and willing, able bodied people

who lose out to the economy every day.

These unfortunate souls still need a place to stay.

The man has no money to move

because he builds houses

and the economy doesn't need men

who work with boards, plaster, nails

and fulfill other homeowner's dreams.

It is a vicious, sad irony

that he could build a mansion

but can't afford the wood

and concrete it seams.

He sits staring out into the empty street,

trying to comfort his fiance,

and tiny baby,

so pure innocent and sweet.

His wheelchair bound mother,

sits sad and confused,

but he vows to protect them

with a pride and strength like no other.

The young mother is barely scraping by,

doing her best to keep a smile

on the baby's face,

so pitiful to hear her cry.

Temporary Aid to this needy family

gives them less than $300 a month,

but her rent is $400 you see.

One of her family members

digs deep to send her

the other $100 dollars when she can.

$100 dollars a month in Food Stamps

to feed a mom and baby

is barely enough to

fight back hunger cramps

it is true,

but the poor baby

has committed no crime.

The man has made mistakes in the past

and paid for his misdeeds long ago,

but he carried a label for life

that makes finding work hard

With a dark mantle he is cast,

his applications marked 'discard.'

Yes he paid for his errors then,

and continues to pay again and again.

He wants to provide for his new family

and aging mother, disabled,

but he has been labeled

by those who would exhume

skeletons best left in a closet.

Perhaps they disregard the advice

given by the Lord above

who said "judge not least ye be judged."

Now they never leave the house

except in an emergency,

fearing harassment

from those who should protect

and serve you see,

they believe poor equals crime

and attempt to persecute these people

time after time.

Social morals that the town is

pushing upon these families,

for being unwed and having

made mistakes in the past,

could result in homelessness

for three generations,

who relied on a broken promise

of the town fathers to help

that was quickly forgotten

by those who's abuse of power

has become renowned.

It's not their fault that their landlord,

didn't pay her taxes

and the town acquired the property

by hook, crook, or accord.

They had finally found

a home that they could afford, (barely)

a roof over their head

and all the small things

that make a group of people

rich or poor a family.

In our town the charter says

the Board of Selectmen

and the Town Administration

are the Overseers of the Poor.

I guess they don't want to do

their job any more,

so they pass judgment so neat

and cast the poor into the street.

Is Poor a Crime?

The local newspaper in big bold letters

proclaimed, "tenants won't move."

They were criminals, lowlifes and thieves,

maybe even druggies or worse,

because they didn't pay the rent,

without remorse, into the street

they should be sent.

Rent Them...Fix Them Up...Or This...

Being a Landlord is No Easy Job...

THIS WAS NOT IN RUMFORD, MAINE

The Perspective of the Tenants at 438 Waldo Street Who Need to Be Out on Christmas Eve

After learning about the fate of the tenants at 438 Waldo Street in Rumford and reading the Sun Journal's latest piece in their newspaper article titled Evicted Tenants Won't Move, I felt it my duty to provide the perspective of the tenants otherwise known as our community members.

The Rumford Reporter was contacted by one of the tenants in this particular town-owned building after learning about us from a landlord (not Brian O'Keefe) that was also railroaded by the town, prior to Len Greaney's reign as Town Manager. This tenant shared with me that he just flat out didn't have any money to move because he had been laid off from his construction job. His new fiance, who has a two month old baby, moved to Rumford from Farmington in search of a home for both her and her child and then met her fiance who lived next door with his mother, who is disabled and in a wheelchair.

The young single mother and her beautiful child live off Temporary Aid to Needy Families currently but do not even clear $300 a month from that program. Her rent is $400 and one of her family members sends her the other $100 dollars to cover the remainder of the rent. She gets about $100 dollars a month in Food Stamps to help feed herself and the baby. You could say that this mother is just barely making it.

Across the hall is a woman with a disability who is wheelchair bound, also the mother of the single mom's fiance. The son was living with his mother prior to meeting the "girl next door" and they later became engaged. The three of them would like to move in together to help each other out because they are a close knit family who care about each other despite the cards they have been dealt in life.

The son has a criminal past, which has pretty much labeled him for life and makes finding work very difficult for him. Although, he paid for his crimes then, he continues to pay for them now. He feels as if he has limited choices in life but he isn't going to give up for the sake of survival, his family, and now his fiance and her daughter. He wants to provide for them but has been branded. Although, he may have a criminal record, he appeared to be very nice, caring, and genuine. He was also very gentle with his new daughter. I make it a point not to pass judgment on our community members regardless of the skeletons in their closet and this is one case that I am glad that I had the opportunity to witness in person for myself. This thought process does not apply to public officials who in my opinion have railroaded our community members for far too long.

The son of the woman who is disabled cares deeply for his mom. He wants to take care of both her and his fiance but given his past, he faces obstacle after obstacle, hence the reason he is dependent upon the construction industry which is hit or miss. He explained that it was his understanding that they did not have to pay for November's rent in an effort to save money for the first month's rent and the security deposit for a new place. They also wanted some kind of Christmas. The mom, the fiance, and the son all said that they heard town officials tell them that they didn't have to pay for November's rent to help them with the move. The son even showed me the receipts for the rent that had been paid in September and October. He, like Brian O'Keefe's tenants, could have stopped paying rent the entire time and gotten away with it. Mr. O'Keefe lost three month's rent during his ordeal and has been struggling financially ever since.

The woman upstairs who is also disabled lives with her boyfriend, who is actually the person on the lease. She wants to move into a new home with her boyfriend but claims that the town will not help her move into an apartment if she moves in with him. Her boyfriend is trying to convince her that she should do it and not worry about him but she loves him and doesn't want to see him go homeless.

There are two issues here. First is that the tenants claim that they were under the impression that they did not have to pay November's rent to help them with moving expenses. Whether this is true or not, it is only common sense that they need all the money they can get their hands on to pay for the first month's rent and a security deposit for a new place. This is going to cost them between $1000 to $1200 at least. Now, the town is claiming that they cannot receive a $500 voucher to help them with the security deposit because they didn't pay November's rent.

The second issue is that when the Town of Rumford was initially going to give them a voucher to help them move, the woman who is disabled, her son, and his fiance and newborn wanted to move into an apartment together to help each other financially, but, they claim that the Town of Rumford would not provide them with a voucher if they all move in together. The tenants claim the Town of Rumford will give the mom with a disability a voucher and the mother and child a voucher but not if they lived with "the criminal" also a son and fiance. So, instead of $500 for the three of them, the tenants claim the Town of Rumford would give them $1000 for only two of them but not if it included "the criminal."

According to the woman upstairs who has a disability, she lives with her boyfriend who is actually the one on the lease. She isn't even obligated to pay rent but did help with the rent to keep from losing their home when she received a lump sum disability payment. She claims that the Town of Rumford will not help her because she didn't pay November's rent and she is not even obligated to pay rent. She also claims that they originally would not help her with a voucher if she moved in with her boyfriend, who also has a criminal history.

When asked about how he was doing, she said that he never leaves the house anymore because he doesn't want any trouble from the Rumford Police Department. And, now because of the social morals that the Town of Rumford is pushing on these families, they may both be looking at homelessness because they can't afford to come up with the money to move separately. They would have a better chance coming up with the money together and if the Town of Rumford would just help them with the security deposit.

I think the most important part of this equation is that one tenant makes about $300 a month, two tenants make about $700 a month, one is unemployed temporarily, and the other sounds like he is just beat down by the injustice in the world, hence the reason he never leaves his apartment.

The single mom is living in an apartment where heat and electricity are included, thank God!!! But, the others are living in apartments where they have to pay the electricity, telephone, groceries, fuel for transportation, household goods, etc. And, after paying the rent, they don't have a whole lot of money left over for all the typical household bills. They don't live in extravagance, trust me. They are not scamming the system. They are making end's meet to the best of their ability given their life circumstances. They are trying to keep up with their bills so that they can continue utility services in their next home.

I'm not sure what is going on with the man who lives upstairs with his girlfriend but I have a good idea that he's beat down like a lot of the people that the Rumford Police Department have targeted in this town. And, in regards to the two gentlemen with criminal histories, we all make mistakes, deserve to have a roof over our heads, and don't deserve to be branded, ostracized, and demonized for the rest of our lives just because we made a mistake when we were young. But, that obviously is not the mentality of the Town of Rumford according to these tenants.

It's not their fault that their landlord, Betsey Williams, didn't pay her taxes and the Town of Rumford acquired the property. They had finally found a home that they could afford regardless of the "Life Safety Codes" and having a roof over their head was a heck of a lot more important than anything the Town of Rumford was concerned about. They had a lease with Betsey Williams which is apparently null and void now that the Town of Rumford owns the building and they, too, were not expecting to have to move in the middle of the winter at Christmas time. The tenants claim that the Town of Rumford is not going to pay for heat after December 24th, which scares them but if they have to, they will pay for it themselves which will put them back even farther.

If the Town of Rumford really wants them out, why don't they do what Brian O'Keefe had to do. All of his tenants stopped paying rent for three months so they could save up enough money to move into a new place. And, while they were not paying rent, he still had to provide them with heat per the law. He chose not to take them to court because he didn't want them kicked out within 48 hours because it is just cruel. And, they were not grateful to him either. As his property manager, I spent hours cleaning and picking up trash that they left behind after they finally moved out. And, in the end, although he was trying to be helpful to prevent them from homelessness, they still stuck it to him. But, he was used to it. We cleaned up the messes left behind and made the buildings marketable properties because they are all nice buildings despite what the Rumford Code Enforcement Officer and the Rumford Fire Chief would lead one to believe.

Lastly, I think the saddest part of this whole story is the comments that some of our vicious citizens made about other citizens they don't even know. After meeting with these tenants at their home, hearing their perspectives, and then reading these comments, it brought tears to my eyes at how cruel people can be. No wonder we don't have a sense of community in Rumford. Let's just kick them while they are down. I realize that some tenants, like some of Brian O'Keefe's tenants, give the rest of the tenant's a bad name but regardless, these vicious comments were uncalled for and one of the biggest reasons I cancelled my subscription to the Sun Journal and the Rumford Falls Times owned by the Sun Journal. Any newspaper or blog for that matter that allows such awful commentary from citizens who are passing judgment about other community members they don't even know, is low class in my opinion.

Does it not dictate in the Rumford Town Charter that the Board of Selectmen and the Town of Rumford Administration are the Overseers of the Poor? Brian O'Keefe had to suck it up and the Town of Rumford is going to have to suck it up, too. Give them time to come up with the money and truly understand their financial situations or give them some money to help them move. It's that simple. Don't force people who are struggling out on the street in the middle of the winter with a 48 hour notice. It's just wrong. They didn't want this situation to occur any more than the Town of Rumford did.