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A few South Highland Avenue residents asked Moundsville City Council for help in getting a property cleaned up they say is filled with trash, rats and is the site of alleged drug dealing.
Margaret Brown and her husband, Danny, said the situation has gotten so bad that they can't use the back deck of their home.
They said the woman who lives there frequently curses and will not clean up the property, which is located in the 300 block of the street.
"We can't let the grandchildren in the yard because of the language," Margaret Brown said. "We can't have guests. There are rats and bugs. ... No one here would have that next to them. It's miserable."
Resident Logan Wolfe, whose home is located behind the property on a different street, also complained about the trash, adding the woman who lives there has yelled at his family and children including his 3-year-old.
"Who does that?" he said.
Wolfe said he no longer has get-togethers at his home because of the situation.
"We're done with it. We need help. We're done getting cursed at by her and her friends," he said.
City Manager Rick Healy said the property owner has been taken to court twice in the past for building code violations. He said he planned to assess the situation in person today.
Wolfe claimed the city's police officers don't do anything when called about the house. However, Moundsville Police Chief Tom Mitchell said that is not true. Regarding alleged drug dealing, after the meeting Mitchell said his officers have made drug arrests in the area of the house. However, the suspects typically do not have a lot on them, which means they do not end up serving much jail time, he said.
"We do arrest people and the jail lets them out," Mitchell said.
He noted this scenario is repeated across the city. Mitchell added the drug of choice lately is methamphetamines, which he said is cheaper for addicts to buy.
In other matters, Healy said additional testing is being conducted on the concrete used at the site of the new municipal building being erected in the city. He said a third-party company is doing some testing now. It was discovered in recent weeks that some of the concrete was not passing testing and had to be removed.
Healy said he had a recent meeting with the builder's CEO, engineer and architect on the project, and he feels confident things will be back on track in a couple weeks.