Pine Co. Board Votes Unanimously To Clean Trash House

POKEGEMA TOWNSHIP, Minn. (WCCO) -- Neighbors in one Pine County neighborhood will have to wait at least a week before a property full of decomposing trash is cleaned up.

The Pine County board voted unanimously Tuesday to move ahead with cleaning up the mess left behind when the homeowner died.

The clean-up is required under Minnesota health laws, but the property will have to be posted for 10 days before anything happens.

The cost of the clean-up will be tacked on to the purchase price of the lot.

The previous owner -- John Sanders -- began cleaning it up in 2009 when Pokegema Township took him to court. However, when Sanders died earlier this year, the bank which owned the mortgage on the property forgave the debt and washed its hands of the mess.

Without a will or legal heirs to assume ownership of the property, it was forced to go through the probate process for anything to get done.

The house is near Lake Pokegema.