COAL TOWNSHIP - Twenty-eight citations have been filed this year against four elderly siblings in Zerbe Township in connection with nine blighted properties they own in Coal Township.
Coal Township Manager Robert Slaby Jr. reported the citations were filed by township code enforcement officer Chris Petrovich against Pauline Kolody, Esther Kolody, Helen Kolody and Russell Kolody, who all reside at 802 Trevorton Road in Zerbe Township.
The Kolodys range in age from 78 to 92, Slaby said.
Slaby said the Kolodys failed to respond to notices issued by Petrovich to clean up the properties, prompting police to obtain bench warrants from Magisterial District Judge John Gembic III. But when police went to serve the warrants at the Kolody residence, nobody was home.
Slaby said information was obtained that the Kolody siblings may have headed to a farm they reportedly own in New York.
According to Slaby, problems with blighted properties owned by the Kolodys have existed since the 1980s.
He said the Kolodys face a fine ranging from $100 to $300 for each code violation and/or possible imprisonment.
Slaby said Pauline Kolody owns blighted structures at 1445, 1447, 1449 and 1451 W. Chestnut St., and 5 N. Bay St., which have each been cited three times this year.
Esther Kolody is the owner of a blighted property at 1550 W. Lynn St., which also was cited three times this year.
Helen Kolody owns a blighted structure at 406 Cypress St., which has been cited four times.
Russell Kolody owns blighted properties at 1721 W. Independence St. and 7 N. Bay St., which have been cited three times each.
Slaby said Russell Kolody owns the property where he and his three sisters live. He said the home, which is located near Catawese Coach Company, isn't in the best of shape, but is not considered blighted.
'Wall of Shame'
The township manager said the structures owned by the Kolodys will be posted on a "Wall of Shame" initiated last month by township commissioners in an effort to embarrass blighted property owners, hoping the shame will prompt them to clean up their houses or pay to have them razed.
The commissioners granted approval to Slaby to place the names, telephone numbers and current addresses of blighted property owners on the township's website, coaltownship.org.
In addition to having their names, phone numbers and addresses listed on the website, signs will be posted by the township on the properties themselves listing the same information, if available.
The commissioners also urge neighbors to call the property owners as much as possible to complain about the eyesores.