Jefferson County commissioners authorize bids to clean dilapidated house at 3971 North Second Street

Jefferson County commissioners voted to allow staff to solicit bids to clean up a derelict property at 3971 North Second Street after repeated attempts to reach the owner and others connected to the parcel.

The county's code enforcement staff described the property as fire-damaged and “filled with trash,” and said the condition has worsened over several years. The presenter said title documents show ownership listed in county records as Amy Jo Hazelwood Cole, with a home address in Bedford, Kentucky, and that county staff learned at different times that others had claimed to have bought or redeemed the property at tax sale but never completed a transfer of title.

“There’s some other trash. The house has had a fire in it at some point in time. They’ve been dilapidated,” the staff member said in presenting photographs and a property card. The presenter said staff mailed a certified notice requiring clean-up, received no response and recommended pursuing contractor bids to remove debris and remediate the site.

The presenter described earlier outreach: a certified notice mailed to Amy Jo Hazelwood Cole on April 17; a prior clean-up notice issued April 19; contact in December with a Vinod Gupta representative who said cleanup would follow better weather; and a later statement from Gupta that the property had been redeemed and he no longer owned it. Because the chain of ownership remained unclear and no one had undertaken cleanup, staff recommended moving forward with procurement for abatement.

Commissioners moved and seconded a motion to allow staff to solicit bids to clean the property. No individual vote tallies were recorded in the meeting transcript; the chair called for those in favor and the motion was advanced. The presenter said staff will return to the board with bid results.

Why it matters: The property sits in a residential area and nearby residents reported concern that the site’s condition was spreading nuisance conditions to adjacent yards. County staff framed the action as a code-enforcement and public‑health measure to remove blight and reduce collateral impacts on neighboring properties.

What happens next: Staff will solicit and review bids for debris removal and property remediation and bring those bids back to the commissioners for further direction or contract approval.