People living in Columbiana County desperately want a house on their road to be cleaned up. 

The home at 22485 Mountz Road is almost unrecognizable. The windows have been boarded up and it’s sat untouched for years. The lawn is overgrown to the point where you can’t see the driveway. Trash, old beer cans and tires litter the yard. Several structures around the property are falling apart and cars can be seen parked through the weeds.

Bill Baumgardner lives right next to the home and believes the house has a rodent problem that’s starting to find its way over to his property.  

“I've got a tupperware of dog treats out here for my dog and they ripped open the top of the tupperware container and stole all the dog treats,” Baumgardener said about the rats in his garage. 

He’s been putting out rat poison every night for weeks to try and get rid of them. 

“Three or four times a night I'll catch them on video camera of them coming over here,” Baumgardner said. “I've caught two, my dog has gone after one.”

Back in 2017, the dog warden removed 37 dogs from the house next to Baumgardeners. The warden said the entire house was a mess when they went in and it was covered in urine and feces.

“It was like a muck. They went in there kind of like almost [in] hazmat suits,” Baumgardner said about the day they removed the dogs.

The owner wasn’t living in the home at the time according to authorities. When 21 News spoke to the dog warden eight years ago they said the woman probably adopted a male and female dog and didn't get them spayed or neutered and they just kept breeding. 

Neighbors said they haven’t seen the woman go back to the home since the warden removed the dogs and believe she is now in a nursing home. 

Their problems started with raccoons about a year ago and then, more recently, the rats started to show up. Baumgardner and another neighbor both believe they are coming from the home and filed complaints with the township and county health department.

“It's a matter of time before they get into my home,” Baumgardner said. “At this time I'm not seeing any, any evidence that they're there but I can't say that for positive.” 

Minerva Village told 21 News that Mountz Road is out of their corporation limit and they do not have jurisdiction over the home. Baumgardner said when he spoke to the West Township trustees they told him their hands were tied because all of the taxes were paid on the home. 

The Columbiana County Health Department did inspect the home Tuesday morning. The inspector found “garbage, open buildings and old cars, campers, tires” they also found “trails around the property which seem to be from rats” according to the notes that 21 News obtained from the health department.

The health department deemed the property a public health nuisance. They will be contacting the owner and sending them an order to abate, which is an order to clean up the property.