And in Other House News…

Late last month Jerry, our local Fire Marshal, emailed to tell me there were ongoing complaints re the mainland house. My visceral response is not printable, even on my own blog. I assured Jerry that my tenant was not building cabinets at the house, nor applying finish on said cabinets.

My tenant, copied on Jerry’s email, called to pow-wow on who, what and why another complaint could have come in. This complaint sited ‘operating a cabinet shop onsite, spraying finish, and operating a business with out a city license.’

A very long story-short, my tenant is not operating a cabinet shop, nor spraying finishes on the property, nor does he need a business license simply because he lives in our town, and does his bookkeeping from his home.

In order to put this complaint to bed, he acquired the unneeded city license. We met, on my lunch hour, last Thursday, with the city and Jerry the Fire Marshal (who should have a secondary title of Social Worker). I am left disgusted that the city has to respond to every complaint, no matter how it’s delivered: written, in person, or by phone. There doesn’t seem to be remediation should someone serially complain about nonsense.

We know who filed the latest complaint… She calls the police if someone parks in front of her house, and is known to check license plates of parked cars near her house for current registration. Clearly she is someone who does not have a life.

Our state is toying with the idea of not allowing citizen complaints to be anonymous. Meanwhile, I am toying with the idea of asking our City Council to require that any complaints be delivered in person at city hall, or in writing. Currently, complaints can be filed by phone. Such an easy way to use the city as a tool for one’s retributive impulse.

I have yet to decide exactly what recourse to take against this person, if any. I have a few lawyers up my sleeve and will adhere to their advice, even if I don’t like it.