House near Covington Middle School draws complaints for code violations

In the two years since, Pridemore has seen the owners come into compliance with some violations, only to later fall out of compliance or violate another county code. As a result, the county has levied more than $350,000 in liens against the property, which is owned by William Gregory Rathgeber. The case is now in the hands of the county prosecutor’s office.

Pridemore expects a solution to be reached within six months. Possible outcomes include the county seizing the property or Rathgeber finally bringing the property into compliance.

Those who live at and frequent the home say they are working to clean up the property and bring it into compliance. In fact, Rathgeber is working to get a new shipping and receiving business, Chief Ship and Sale, up and running, said Jim Sellers, who said he works for Rathgeber. Sellers spoke to The Columbian on behalf of Rathgeber.

“It’s gonna be a really nice place when it’s done,” Sellers said.

Right now, however, neighbors say the place is an eyesore.

The driveway and side yard are full of cars, trailers, storage containers and structures covered with blue tarps. The front of the house looks as though it’s in the process of being re-sided and the roof being redone. Pieces of plywood line the metal fence along the north side of the property and outbuildings peek out from behind piles of construction supplies, garbage cans, ladders, tires and various pieces of equipment.

“I think it’s terrible,” said Lisa Aske, who lives a couple of miles from the property and drives by often. “It brings down the value of everything else around there.”

“It needs to be bulldozed,” she added.

Under the radar

Clark County Code Enforcement was first alerted to the property back in October 2014. But that first complaint didn’t come from a neighbor or school official or nearby business owner, it came from a building inspector.

The inspector went out to the property at 6114 N.E. 112th Ave. after Rathgeber filed an application for a residential re-roof permit. After seeing the condition of the property, the inspector called Pridemore.

Pridemore had never encountered a property with so many violations, particularly at a property that is as well-trafficked — and as close to a school — as the Rathgeber property.

“It always surprised me that I wasn’t getting five or six calls a day,” he said.

The first complaint from the public wasn’t filed until July 2015 — about eight months after Pridemore first made contact and days after he filed the first lien against the property.

Tracy Wilson, who owns DeWils Industries, filed that complaint after he discovered a large, full shipping container sitting on his property that is adjacent to the Rathgeber property. The container was also sitting on a county alleyway.

After several warnings to remove the container, the county’s public works department hauled it and its contents away, Pridemore said. Wilson and the other owners of the building complex where DeWils’ corporate headquarters is located also filed legal action against Rathgeber.

Rathgeber had for months been putting vehicles, trailers, motorhomes and even an above-ground swimming pool on Wilson’s property. Rathgeber had also fenced Wilson’s lots, preventing him from accessing his own property, according to court documents.

The judge in May issued a default judgement of $19,310 against Rathgeber.

Drug arrest

Code enforcement and public works aren’t the only departments that have had visited the property. The state Department of Labor & Industries sent someone to inspect the place, and in May, Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Vancouver Police Department officers served a search warrant at the property, looking for narcotics and stolen property.

Rathgeber was arrested on suspicion of methamphetamine possession, possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver, utilizing a building for drug activity and obstructing officials. The case is set for trial in January.

Since the police raid, parents of students at Covington Middle School have been filing complaints with code enforcement. School officials and law enforcement are familiar with the property and provide an “extra level of diligence” to ensure student and staff safety, said Gail Spolar, Evergreen Public Schools spokeswoman.

“Covington security staff, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office school resource officer assigned to the area and general law enforcement patrols are aware of this property and provide a heightened level of scrutiny to it,” she said.

Rathgeber’s daughter-in-law Jamie Palmer says the property and the people living there have gotten a bad rap.

“Everyone has made this place seem horrible, and it’s not,” she said. “This isn’t about drugs. There’s a school right there.”

Several people are working on the property. Some are friends of Rathgeber’s, others are “people from the streets” who Rathgeber is trying to help, Sellers said.

Some bad folks have come through the property, Palmer and Sellers admit, but they’ve cleared out the troublemakers and are trying to clean up the property.

“Code enforcement has made it hard on us,” Palmer said.

But Pridemore said Rathgeber and others at the property have told him many times that they would file for the proper permits, but they don’t follow through.

“They don’t comply, but they talk like they’ll comply,” Pridemore said.

Last summer, the property started looking better, and Pridemore became optimistic they were finally making progress.

“But then they started trenching under the house,” he said.

Pridemore discovered they had been digging a tunnel under the house, which they said was necessary to replace the home’s plumbing. Pridemore warned them that what they were doing was unsafe and told them to stop the construction.

When he returned to the property a month later, Pridemore found a bulldozer under the house, in what had become the new basement. The house was being propped up with posts, Pridemore said.

The house was immediately posted as a dangerous structure, prohibiting anyone from entering the building.

In the year since, county code enforcement has been keeping an eye on the property while waiting for the case to work its way through the legal process. Someone visits the site at least once a month — more often if complaints about new code violations are reported, Pridemore said.

“It’s not the easy road everyone seems to think it is,” he said. “These are civil offenses, not criminal offenses. They’re handled with penalties, not jail time.”