By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — The city council gave a seven-day deadline for the former Birds Eye industrial complex on Fort Street to be secured during their meeting on June 23, and that deadline was not met.
Council agreed that the city will contract out fencing work to be done to secure the site, but the cost for the expense will be placed squarely on property owner Steven Nasiff of Massachusetts-based Nasiff International.
The specifics of the city-lead fencing project were not available as of Monday afternoon, but Assistant City Manager and Code Enforcement Officer Tony Mazzucco explained that the city was in the process of contracting for fence construction mostly along the northern part of the property, though other fencing could be needed.
Nasiff could not be reached by phone on Monday, but Mazzucco said that City Manager Austin Bleess has been in contact with Nasiff multiple times through phone and email since the June 23 meeting.
“The mayor felt it was very important for the city council to hold an emergency meeting, because the city has dealt with this for long enough and they’re not going to let it go any longer than it has, at this point,” Mazzucco said.
Though Nasiff did not meet the seven-day deadline for securing the site, he is still within the 30-day timeline council gave him to create a clean-up plan for the property; during the June 23 meeting, Nasiff told the council that he intended to clean up the parcel..
“I’m going to finish cleaning it, and I apologize for the unsightliness, but we’ll look at getting that taken care of, and I’ll give you a plan because I have no reason not to,” he said about a month ago. “I’m on this ASAP.”
Nasiff is slated to present the Caribou City Council with a plan for the removal and remediation of all the hazards at the site during the next regularly scheduled city council meeting on Monday, July 28.
Due to the meeting’s short notice, councilors David Genthner and Davig Martin were not in atendance.
