THURMONT, Md. – The Town of Thurmont has condemned three of nine houses involved in two multi-million-dollar lawsuits against the town.

“These are two of the properties that were subject to sewage backups in 2003 that resulted in significant monetary judgments against the town,” Thurmont Mayor Martin Burns said as he read from a prepared statement during the Dec. 11 town meeting.

The condemned properties are 310 Westview Drive owned by Harold and Paula Furr and 12 Ironmaster Court owned by Wayne and Tina Brown. The commissioners also condemned 11 Ironmaster Court owned by Ron and Kathy Bishop on Dec. 18.

“The town is pursuing acquisition of these properties to protect both the residents who reside at the properties from future damages and the residents of the town from future judgments,” Burns said.

“I guess that’s a Merry Christmas to me and my family,” Ron Bishop sarcastically told the commissioners during the Dec. 18 town meeting.

Maryland law authorizes a municipality to condemn private property for public use and also to condemn private property for water and sewer systems.

“It wouldn’t upset me in the least based on the way we’ve been treated,” Wayne Brown of 12 Ironmaster Court said the following the announcement. He added, “I really don’t know what their point would be at this stage of the game.”

The condemnation resolutions state, in part, “…the Town of Thurmont has used due diligence and reasonable care in maintaining and repairing its sewer system, but despite these efforts, cannot guarantee that future sewage backups will not occur at the Property and that the Town will now incur monetary damages as a result thereof…”

Seven Thurmont families sued the town for $9 million in 2004 for damages from a 2003 sewage backup. The case went to court in May and the families won a judgment against the town that stands at $2.5 million to date. In September, three families, including one of the families from the first lawsuit, sued the town for $6 million from a 2004 sewage backup.

“Nobody is asking for anything more than we lost,” Brown said. “The number that came out in court was almost identical to what was submitted.”

However, Burns points out that one of the families now suing the town for $2 million originally asked for only $10,000.

Brown said none of the families are trying to get rich off the incident and that they were only seeking a fair settlement that town never offered before the lawsuit was filed.

“It’s the second lawsuit that tells me this will never stop,” Burns said later. He added that having to pay for lawsuit after lawsuit while at the same time trying to pay for multi-million-dollar sewer repairs “scares the tar out of me and I think it would any mayor.”

Though the town has only condemned two of the properties to date, Burns said during the meeting that the town would ultimately be pursuing condemnation of the other properties.

The resolutions passed unanimously. Now the properties will be reappraised by the same person who appraised them for the court case in May.

The town is required to offer the owners a fair market value for the properties. If the owners don’t agree with the amount, they can take the case to court. A judge can only determine the value of the property, though, not whether or not it can be condemned.

“Is that fair market value before the town’s crap was in their homes or after the town’s crap was in their homes?” Sharon Little, an Ironmaster Court resident, asked during the Dec. 18 meeting.

Burns told her that the backups have made little difference in the property values. A check of the assessment records and the appraisal values of the homes in the first lawsuit show that this is indeed the case.

The town will take ownership of the property, and once any needed repairs are made to them and to the sewer system, resell the houses. “Thus getting some of the money back after the market has regained,” Burns said during the meeting.

Brown installed ball valves in his house that he has to manually turn off when it rains, but it keeps the sewage from flooding the house. Even after four years since the original flood, he said that if the town gets two inches, he can turn on the valve and sewage will still come up through his basement sink.

When asked what he would do when he has to move, Brown said, “I might stay in the area, but I won’t stay in the town limits.”

Depending on how smoothly the proceedings go, it could be anywhere from a month to a year before he will have to move.

“Unfortunately, right now we have to do what’s in the best interest of 6,000 people and that’s what we’re doing,” Burns said.

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