ATHOL – Mother Nature intervened to give Athol resident Matt Alden a temporary reprieve on his property at 1756 Main St. being declared a nuisance by the Selectboard.

At the board’s meeting on Tuesday, July 16, a public hearing on the matter was brought to an abrupt halt when a powerful thunderstorm moving through the area knocked out power to Athol Town Hall. But prior to that, town officials and residents had the chance to address the ongoing situation.

Speaking to an infestation of rodents in the neighborhood, acting Athol Health Agent Jane O’Brien said she spoke with Mark Monette of Quality Pest Control of Orange, the company which has been placing bait in the area around the Main Street property and nearby 62 Summer St., where the garage was recently demolished at the order of the Selectboard.

Reading from correspondence received from Monette, O’Brien quoted him as saying, “I feel the greatest threat population was probably located (on Main Street) and then dispersed after the fire. They may have been using the trash in the garage at 62 Summer as a food source. Given the amount of debris and vegetation around the Main Street fire location, they are probably back using that location as harborage.”

Monette, according to O’Brien, said it would be advisable to place (bait) boxes around site of the Main Street fire, abutting properties and on Summer Street. The boxes, he told O’Brien, should then be monitored and re-baited until the properties are either demolished or the rat activity stops.

“Regarding the issues we’ve had in that neighborhood,” O’Brien said, “the condition of the properties, the ongoing complaints and calls we’re getting – we had a dog, a family pet, bit by a rat. My fear is it could be a child next time. We really need to clean up both sites in order to get that neighborhood back to a nice neighborhood where people can come out in their yards.”

Town Manage Shaun Suhoski shared documentation with the board to show that Building Inspector Bob Legare had given Alden a Notice of Unsafe Conditions in August and December of last year and most recently on July 2. Legare was unable to attend last Tuesday's meeting.

Melissa Perez, who owns a rental property sharing a driveway with Alden, said she is certain that an unregistered camper on his property has become a “rat motel.” In addition to rats, she said her tenants also complain of unpleasant odors coming from the Main Street property. While she expressed some degree of sympathy for Alden for his misfortune, Perez said the cleanup of the site “has been painstakingly slow. Somehow, we have to start getting rid of some of the piles and piles of things.”

Dennis Whelpley, who owns Dennis’ Uptown Garage next door to 1756 Main St., has allowed Alden to put a 30-yard dumpster on his property to help facilitate cleanup of the site.

“I don’t mind it being there as long as it’s being used,” said Whelpley. “But when you’re filling it up one board at a time, it’ll be a long time before it’s gone. I just want to find out what the bottom line on this place is going to be.”

When it was his turn to testify, Alden told the board, “I’ve been busting my butt up there since the fire.” He said a bout with COVID sideline him for two months after the start of the new year, “But ever since then, all I’ve been doing is working at that place. When I hear comments about ‘one board at a time’ – that’s not happening.”

Alden said that statements from the town that it would assist in the cleanup have come to nothing. He also said he was told by Legare to clean up debris at the rear of his property, then instructed to work on the front of the lot.

“So, then he told me to start working on the side; so, I started working on the side,” he said. “So I’m being run around and told different stories – not that it matters.”

“What it boils right down to,” Alden continued, “I have removed, pretty much by myself, eight 30-yard dumpsters. A friend of mine lent me $18,000 to buy a Bobcat, a track loader. It’s been a tremendous help. Since I got that a couple of months ago, I’ve really be able to get moving on it.”

Alden said he was frustrated to hear members of the Selectboard making accusations about his attempts to clear the debris from his property.

“They’re nonsense comments saying that I’m just moving stuff from one spot to another, then looking at for 15 minutes and putting it back,” he said. “Where are they getting this? Obviously, it’s ignorant – they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Alden went on to say that the debris that remains on the property amounts to about a third of the original amount.

At that point, after the power flickered off and back on a half-dozen times, the lights went out for good. The outage shut down the opportunity for individuals who may have wished to testify at the hearing via Zoom.

Board member Kala Fisher made a motion to recess the hearing and resume at their meeting on Aug. 20. With board members Brian Dodge and Rebecca Bialecki absent, Chair Stephen Raymond waited for Andy Sujdak to second Fisher’s motion, but it did not come. So, Raymond offered a second and the motion passed by a two-to-one vote. Sujdak and other board members have expressed frustration with what they see with a lack of progress on the property.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@aol.com.