JAY — Selectmen agreed Monday to check a fire-damaged apartment building on Jewell Street to see if there’s progress in making the building safer.

The wood-framed structure at 24 Jewell St. was heavily damaged by fire Feb. 17, 2011. It was started by a 2-year-old boy who lived there.

“A new roof is being put on and we are working on it as quickly as we can,” said  Rose Grimanis of Farmington, who owns the building with her husband, Michael. The building will have space for two families, she said.

Town Manager Ruth Cushman told the board that Code Enforcement Officer Shiloh LaFreniere checked the building Monday.

Since November, the third floor has been torn off and a partial roof has been constructed, LaFreniere said Wednesday.

As long as they work two days out of 30 days that is acceptable? Jewell Street resident Cindy Bennett asked.

The town has no ordinance covering dangerous buildings. State statute leaves it up to the board to determine what constitutes a dangerous building, LaFreniere told selectmen in November. She had asked the board for guidance on dangerous or nuisance buildings.

“It is up to selectmen what is an acceptable level for these buildings,” LaFreniere said then.

“I think if they are boarded up and they don’t have access” to get into them, including covering a hole in the roof, that should be acceptable, Board of Selectmen Chairman Steve McCourt said then.

McCourt said Monday that they have been working on the building.

“How much time do they get?” Bennett asked. “I don’t see any progress.”

Another resident complained about the roof structure and the soundness of it.

McCourt said he agreed if there is not any progress, selectmen may have to set some guidelines to be met by certain deadlines.

“If they do everything we ask them to do to secure a dangerous building, there is not much we can do,” Cushman said. “If they don’t do everything we ask them, to then it comes back to the board.”

“Maybe we need to be a little more aggressive,” Selectman Tim DeMillo said.

He checked the building prior to the meeting and he said he didn’t see much progress.

McCourt said he would check the building before the Jan. 23 board meeting. The town does not have a building code.

“We need to set guidelines,” McCourt said. “We need to see some progress.”

The contractor was working on the rafters Monday, LaFreniere said.

She said she still considers the building dangerous. There are still broken windows and there is a lot of debris in the yard from when the third floor was removed, she said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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