MIFFLIN TOWNSHIP — The Mansfield Inn is structurally deficient and unsafe, according to the Richland County Building Department.
It has no running water and is in violation of six Ohio laws and rules regarding safe drinking water, according to the state EPA.
An order to vacate the premises at 800 Laver Road is scheduled to take effect Feb. 13.
Yet more than a dozen rooms still appeared occupied Thursday during a visit by members of the Mansfield/Richland County Homeless Response Team.
The team — including social worker Angela Riley from Catalyst Life Services, Wayfinders Executive Director Miles Parsons and Mansfield police officer Matt Davis — knocked on doors of rooms the hotel manager had told them were still occupied.
Riley and Parsons spoke with room residents, informing them of the order to vacate the premises and offering services from Wayfinders and other community organizations to help them relocate, including rental assistance. It was the group’s second visit in the last week.
Disturbingly, the team also found people staying in rooms the hotel manager had not said were occupied. A female child was seen inside one room, though an adult male there said she was “just visiting.”
There were also dogs and cats in many of the rooms. Tainted snow piles outside of the rooms provided a great deal of evidence there were a number of pets at the facility. Trash was found in deep snow on the south side of the hotel.
The Richland County Humane Society had left tags on some of the room doors, reminding people of the need to care for their pets. (see below)
The hotel was built in 1961 and purchased in 2007 by Paresh Patel of Barstow, Calif., for $1 million, according to the Richland County Auditor’s Office website.
The two-story motel caters to long-term guests and offers rooms for $225 per week plus tax for a single bed and $250 per week plus tax for double beds.
Pets are permitted at a cost of $25 each, according to a sign in the motel lobby.
Members of the Mansfield/Richland County Homeless Response Team were joined by Richland County Commissioner Tony Vero and Richland County Building Dept. Director Steve Risser during an hour-long visit to the hotel.
After the walk around, the team returned to the lobby and asked the manager why there were people staying in rooms he had not told them about, a conversation that led to confusion and frustration for team members.
There was also concern the hotel had allegedly accepted $500 in cash for a one-month stay even after the order to vacate had been issued by the county building department.
At one point, the manager had his “boss” on the phone, who told the team to visit the guests and tell them to leave. The team members told him that was the hotel’s responsibility.
How frustrating was the conversation with the manager?
“On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the most frustrating, I would say 70,” Vero said outside the lobby.
“You saw it for yourself. We have people staying in pretty difficult conditions and without drinking water. And it appears we have people paying money, which is being accepted in cash, after an order to vacate was issued,” the commissioner said.
“We’re just trying to make heads or tails out of all this. I am going to be making calls at the state and local level. We’re trying to figure out how to wrap our heads around all of this,” Vero said.
(Below are photos taken at the Mansfield Inn on Thursday morning during a visit by the Mansfield/Richland County Homeless Response Team.)
Risser said his office inspected the hotel after a complaint by the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Chief Building Official Kenneth Arthur issued the order to vacate the premises on Jan. 30, writing, “The structure has sustained structural damage and subsequent structural failure. As such, the structural damage and failure is deemed a serious hazard and the structure is deemed an unsafe building in accordance with OBC 109.4.”
(Below is the “order to vacate” by the Richland County Building Department.)
Arthur’s report noted “cracking, spalling and failure of second floor concrete balconies, walkways and stairs.”
“Water intrusion, ice buildup and inadequate drainage have been observed and are contributing to the concrete failure as previously described,” Arthur wrote.
He also cited a failure in the hotel’s plumbing system as identified in the same state code.
“The structure is currently not provided with any water supply system and causes the structure to be unsanitary,” Arthur wrote.
During the visit on Thursday, Risser noted some of the concrete defects to Richland Source and said it was not possible to make effective structural repairs before the order to vacate takes effect.
In a few places, Risser grasped and literally shook metal support poles, demonstrating how loose they had become.
Jacob Stalter, environmental specialist with the Ohio EPA Division of Drinking and Ground Waters, did a “limited scope site visit” on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Stalter sent Patel two notices — one spelling out the violations and another ordering the hotel to provide guests with bottled water during the disruption of service.
The hotel relies upon two wells for its water supply. Stalter’s letter noted a well pump would need to be replaced and another well would need to be inspected by a “well driller registered with the Ohio Department of Health.”
(Below are notices from the Ohio EPA to the owner of the Mansfield Inn.)
Stalter said the hotel must respond within 30 days “indicating how and on what schedule the public water system will address (the violations.)”