Tulsa County Commissioners Working To Tear Down Hazardous Homes

After residents near Sand Springs expressed concerns about a dangerous, burned down property, the Tulsa County Commissioners Office is taking action.

Neighbors complained to News On 6 about the burned down mobile home, saying it’s a hazard to the community. Tulsa County commissioners said they didn’t know about it until they saw the story. It’s now one of the many properties in the county that commissioners are trying to take care of.

11/7/2017 Related Story: Tulsa County Woman’s Attempts To Clean Burned Property Go Nowhere

A few weeks ago, Tulsa County Commissioners approved $45,000 to go towards tearing down hazardous, dilapidated homes.

"It's pretty terrible. I wouldn't want my kids playing out here or anywhere near it," said Chief Deputy County Commissioner John Fothergill. “The City of Tulsa has worked through it and I think we can too."

The County used to deal with homes like those in the 80s and early 90s but had since let the program lapse. Commissioners Karen Keith and John Smaligo started working to bring the initiative back just a few months ago.

"We decided, you know, ‘What is our process,’ and everyone's kind of like ‘Well, I don't know. We haven't done this,’" Fothergill said.

The County is working in conjunction with the health department to tackle the complaints.

"The health department can do it on the health side, and we do it on more of the safety side, and so there's two different avenues," Fothergill said.

But, he said the process isn't easy and said neighbors should expect these things to take time.

Because the initiative is so new, commissioners said they are still working out the kinks, but they want to know about these kinds of properties.

You can find the contact information for the County Commissioners here.