A Columbia Heights property owner has been convicted of violating Flathead County’s community decay law for failing to dispose of more than 50 older mobile homes he moved to the property as part of a salvage operation.

A Flathead Justice Court jury found William M. Russell guilty of a criminal misdemeanor on March 3. He was ordered to pay a $285 fine. Justice of the Peace Mark Sullivan gave Russell a 12-month deferred imposition of sentence to allow him to clean up the property within a year.

Deputy County Attorney Caitlin Overland said community decay cases rarely end with a jury trial and conviction.

“This is a pretty extreme position we had to take,” she said, adding that typically the county Planning and Zoning Office works with property owners to get such cases resolved outside the courtroom.

If Russell cleans up the property within the one-year time frame, the conviction will be removed from his court record, Overland said. If he fails to remove the mobile homes, he faces resentencing.

County Planning Director Mark Mussman said the county’s goal in decay cases is compliance.

“Our goal is not to take people to court and fine them,” he said.

The first formal complaint about Russell’s property, located at 7435 U.S. 2 E. in Columbia Heights, was filed with the Planning Office in July 2013 and was followed by a second complaint in August that year. The property is unzoned but is subject to the county’s community decay ordinance.

County Code Enforcement Officer George Ferris dogged the case for close to three years to attempt to get Russell to clean up the property. Various managers Russell hired to oversee the salvage operation promised to clean up the site, with one manager agreeing to demolish and ship out all of the mobile homes for their recycling value by Sept. 30, 2014.

The cleanup never took place, though, and in October 2014 Russell advised the county he intended to continue to “scrap out” materials on his property and alleged the county was micromanaging his efforts, according to Ferris’ case notes.

Russell, who lives in Arizona, further said that he intended to leave the mobile homes in their present condition as a wind barrier “and to secure the property from intruders.”

Neighbors have alleged the empty trailers attract transients and that salvaged materials such as insulation and aluminum pieces have blown onto adjacent properties through the years.

Betsy West, who lives on the back side of Russell’s property, said she has called the county at least a half-dozen times over the last three years about the blight caused by the junk trailers. She is concerned about how the mess next door might affect her property value. West also said children and transients are attracted to the area.

The case remained unresolved in December 2014, so Ferris sent a letter to the County Attorney’s Office asking for legal counsel. When Russell failed to appear in court, a $285 bench warrant was issued for his arrest, according to Planning Office files.

Russell eventually appeared in Justice Court on the outstanding warrant for the community decay violation, then in August 2015 told the Planning Office he had made progress in cleaning up the front portion of the property where a number of junk vehicles had lined the fence abutting the highway.

The Montana Department of Environmental Quality got involved in the case and sent its first violation letter to Russell in September 2015. The state agency conducted a field inspection earlier this year, viewing the property from U.S. 2 and detecting several partially dismantled mobile homes.

 The state sent Russell another violation letter on Feb. 12, saying the on-site disposal and storage of solid waste on his property is a violation of the state’s Solid Waste Management Act.

Shasta Steinweden, an environmental enforcement specialist with the Department of Environmental Quality, outlined what needs to be done to bring the site into compliance. Russell must dispose of the solid waste on the property at a licensed solid waste management facility. He also must provide a description and photographs of his cleanup efforts.

The state further alleges Russell needs a recycler’s license from the Department of Environmental Quality. The state’s case against Russell is still unresolved.

Flathead County’s community decay ordinance, based on state law, imposes a maximum $500 fine and/or six months in jail.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.