VENANGO — “We’ll see what happens,” property owner John Woodward Sr. told Venango Borough Mayor Jim Walsh after a special borough council meeting Monday night. “I could use a couple three new buildings when they tear these down. This ain’t the end of it, Jimmy.”

Woodward and his wife, Barbara, are the owners of three of the four properties the borough’s building inspector, Robert Kulak of ABC Inspections, recently found to be in violation of the borough’s dilapidated building ordinance.

A representative of the owner of the fourth property, James Howles, submitted a plan of action for repairing the fourth building on Kulak’s list. Kulak advised council to approve the plan. The structure is a residence on the northwest corner of the intersection of Cussewago and Church streets.

By a unanimous vote, council members agreed to give Howles 30 days to submit a written plan for corrections of the violations noted to Kulak for his review and approval. Approved repairs, which must be made in accordance with the Uniform Construction Code, must be complete within the next 60 days. Problems Howles must address include missing siding on one side of the building, permitting weather to deteriorate the underlying structural elements; numerous unsecured doors and windows, permitting access to unauthorized persons; loose or broken glass in exposed windows; and missing slats and deteriorated eaves and soffits, which expose the roof system to increased deterioration.

The three Woodward buildings “cannot be reasonably repaired, and accordingly ... should be demolished,” according to a separate order unanimously approved by council.

The order specifically calls for the structures to be demolished, with demolition debris lawfully removed, any basement areas filled with appropriate fill to the surface of the ground and each site restored to a safe condition. Plans and an application for demolition and site restoration for all three buildings must be submitted within 30 days; the demolition must be completed within the next 60 days. However, the order also gives the Woodwards an option to submit plans prepared by a licensed architect or engineer for repairs or restorations within 30 days; if the plans are approved, then council may amend the order to permit the work to proceed and “establish reasonable time limitations for such remedial work.”

The Woodwards’ commercial property once used as a service station on the southeast corner of the intersection of Cussewago and Church streets was found to have a roof so deteriorated that the roof and structure supporting it have collapsed; block wall joints on the left side separating, demonstrating movement of the structural wall; nothing to prevent access to the building by persons or animals; and an open roof and wall, leaving nothing to prevent further damage by rain and weather.

Residential property at 21643 Cussewago St. was found to have building additions on the left side as seen from the street in a state of structural collapse; substantial deterioration in the building comprising the right side of the house; an open roof and wall, leaving nothing to protect the building from further weather damage; and nothing to prevent access by animals or persons.

The third Woodward-owned residential property, on Meadville Street, across from the borough fire hall, was found to have had a portion of the building on the north side removed, leaving an open, exposed and uncovered section of the basement and of the wall that connects to the main building; missing or collapsing structural beams which form the foundation of the main building at various locations along the foundation walls; nothing to prevent further damage from weather; and nothing to prevent access by animals or persons.

“I’m at fault,” John Woodward told the Tribune after the meeting ended. “I don’t deny that. But I want (Kulak) to follow the procedures exactly as the ordinance was wrote. I want the man to come to talk to me. I don’t think I should have to call him 10 or 15 times.”

According to Woodward, there are a number of fundamental issues involved.

For starters, he has never received proper notification of the violations. “Word for word, (the ordinance) says what has to be posted on the building,” he said. “It has to be posted just exactly like it reads in the ordinance — it can’t be changed around.” Written notices were also either not properly delivered or not delivered at all, according to Woodward, and his request for a personal meeting with the inspector yielded no results.

Regardless of the form of notification, however, Woodward also believes he has been — and is still being — singled out for special attention for violations of the borough’s dilapidated buildings and junk ordinances when other properties with violations are not cited.

“This has been an ongoing thing since 1976,” he said. “When the original junk ordinance was started, I was told it was wrote specifically for me. I beat the junk ordinance, so you know what they did? They rewrote it in 1984.”

As for the future, “I guess they’re taking the steps,” Woodward said. “They’re going to tear my buildings all down. I’m not appealing — I’m going to let them do what they want and then I’ll take actions after they tear them down. If they want to tear the places down, we’ll just go from there.”