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Council cracks down on Orange Street house Some clean-up has begun on a nuisance house at 24 Orange St., in Medford. Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta Thursday Jan 5, 2017 at 5:01 PM Jan 5, 2017 at 5:01 PM Damian Mann Mail Tribune @reporterdm Annoyed neighbors have complained for months about a haven for drugs and other bad behavior at 24 Orange St., and Medford City Council took action Thursday that forced the owner to begin cleaning up piles of garbage. In 2016, Medford police responded to 161 calls at the house, including for drugs, aggressive animals, assaults, an assault with a knife and disorderly conduct. Medford code enforcement officers found 25 code violations in the past eight months and issued 13 citations for junk accumulation. Under threat of the council's decision, one of the tenants at the property, William Donald Syvertsen, told the council Thursday that he had already started clearing debris from the back and side yards. "I'd like to inform you that we have a Dumpster at the property," Syvertsen said. He said he paid $300 to rent the Dumpster. The council's action gives the owner 10 days to haul the junk away, or the city will clean it up and potentially place a lien on the property if the property owner, Robert Flyte, doesn't pay the bill. Neighbors have complained about the Orange Street house since March 14, 2016, which led to an investigation by code enforcement officers. "I'm really inspired by the neighbors," said Brad Russell, executive director of the Rogue Valley Family YMCA. "They're really trying to reclaim their neighborhood." The YMCA hosts a recently formed neighborhood watch that also was partially responsible for closing down a drug house on nearby Peach Street, Russell said. The YMCA parking lot abuts the backyard of the problem property on Orange, and Russell has seen lots of strange behavior there. "When police pull up in front of 24 Orange, people run out of the house into the backyard and over the fence and into the parking lot of the YMCA," Russell said. "We've had dogs that have often escaped and have bitten staff members and members of the Y." People living in the house have placed ladders on the YMCA side of the fence to make it easier to flee if police arrive, he said. The ladders have been taken down, Russell said. The house is also close to the YMCA playground, where children can hear loud and foul language, he said. Medford police Sgt. Don Lane said code enforcement responded to two incidents last year in which sewage was leaking from the sewer line at the house. In 2016, Lane said officers responded to eight drug-related calls at the house and 14 calls for suspicious activity, including drugs and theft. Lane said four warrant arrests were made at the house over the past year, and other issues have made the Orange Street a frequent stop for police. "We're there multiple times a day," Lane said. Code enforcement has discussed the situation with the owner to get him to address the other concerns. "We try to find some common ground with him," Lane said. Going forward, the police will work with the council and ask for more tools to go after houses that have become a nuisance in neighborhoods, Lane said. "We're looking at revising our chronic nuisance property ordinance," he said. Syvertsen, who has been acting as agent for the property owner, told the council Dec. 15 that he and Flyte have attempted to clean up the property but said they are both disabled and don't have money to deal with the problem.  After some effort was made to clean up the property, code enforcement officers noticed more junk and household garbage started appearing over the summer. Syvertsen told the council that homeless people are allowed on the property and have left junk in the side yards. He said Flyte had a dispute with Rogue Disposal and canceled his garbage service. As a result, they have taken garbage to the dump in a truck, Syvertsen said. Flyte doesn't always reside at the property and appears to have mental health issues, Syvertsen told the council. Syvertsen sent the city a letter Oct. 17, 2016, saying no unlawful accumulation of junk was present on the property. "The owner's agent, William Donald Syvertsen, hereby requests that the Medford City Recorder need not be bothered with this most unnecessary waste of energy and sees no reason in conducting an administrative hearing 30 days from now," Syvertson stated. — Reach reporter Damian Mann at 541-776-4476 or [email protected]. Follow him on www.twitter.com/reporterdm.