City Commissioners adopted a resolution during their July 21 meeting certifying that a nuisance at 321 1st Ave. S.W. had been abated.
The city declared the property a nuisance in July 2025 and authorized city staff to proceed with forced abatement if necessary.
The property owners, Ralph and Cecelia Laverdure, or anyone associated with the property, failed to complete the required abatement within 30 days, as required under the 2025 resolution.
The city contracted with ALR Contracting to demolish the residential structure, remove the camper and clear the property of rubbish. The work was completed in March.
The total contract for the project was $27,125, according to city staff.
The city has paid the invoices, and by certifying the nuisance was abated, the city may collect either directly from the property owners or through a special assessment against the subject property. The resolution will be filed with official property records kept by the Cascade County Clerk and Recorder’s office.
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The city sent notice to the property owners and other responsible parties associated with the property by certified mail, postage prepaid, return receipt requested, on April 14 and June 30. Notice was also sent by regular mail and posted on the property.
The city is also attempting to collect $3,150.12 in delinquent utility fees from the property owners, for a total of $30,275.12, according to the staff report, but determined they can’t collect those fees through the abatement process and will work to collect those separately.
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The house at 321 1st Ave. S.W. was the scene of two fires, almost a year to the date apart, where city staff had been working for nearly a decade to address code violations.
It’s also a property that highlighted a problem for which Great Falls Fire Rescue proposed a code change that has since been adopted.
The house at 1109 8th Ave. S. that burned down Aug. 5 was on the city’s list of problem properties and on its way to being considered a nuisance under city code, according to multiple city officials.
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The city recently restructured staff to add more resources for code compliance and enforcement.
The changes are reflected in the budget that commissioners adopted during their Aug. 4 meeting.
In the restructure, Rob Moccasin, who was previously the part-time neighborhood council liaison, has shifted to full-time, taking on code compliance and parking. The city’s code enforcement technician, who was previously housed in the planning department, has moved to fall under Moccasin. The city also plans to hire another code enforcement technician.
On Aug. 5, city staff, including GFFR, GFPD, code compliance and Bruce Haman, the city building official, served an abatement warrant on 618 3rd Ave. S., which is owned by Michael William Brainard, according to publicly available property records.
Haman told The Electric that the city had received many complaints over the years about the property and made multiple attempts to get the owner to address the issues.
The east side of the foundation caved in; there’s no water, sewer or electric service to the property, making it unhabitable, but people have been squatting on the property, Haman said.
With the abatement warrant, staff were able to access and assess the property. Haman said staff boarded up windows and access points to prevent anyone from getting inside and posted that it was condemned.
Brainard now has 30 days to address the code deficiencies, or staff will ask the commission to declare the property a nuisance. In that case, the city can force abatement, which is often at the city’s cost.
Haman said the city is looking to take a more aggressive approach to code enforcement, but it remains a long and time-consuming process for staff.
At 321 1st Ave. S.W., city staff received multiple complaints about the property from October 2016 to April 2025.
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Complaints included property maintenance violations, dilapidated conditions, lack of utilities, recreational vehicles and vehicles all over the property, and living conditions of the structure.
Many complaints were also made to law enforcement over those years, according to city staff.
The city sent multiple letters to the property owners in hopes of compliance that never occurred.
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The property continued to deteriorate and a fire occurred at the property in April 2024 and again in April 2025.
Shortly after the 2025 fire, Haman, the city building official, went to the property to assess the damage and deemed it a complete loss, notifying one of the occupants, Crystal Laverdure, that it was no longer habitable and could be razed for safety.
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Code violations still present in April 2025 included, according to city staff:
- residential structure is severely dilapidated and in unsafe condition due to the recent fire and deferred maintenance
- exterior storage/salvage materials between the residence and fence, front/side yards, alley including but not limited to mattresses, bags, trash, auto parts, shopping cart, appliance(s), furniture, wood, dilapidated fencing on the sides/rear of the property, etc.
- dilapidated white/silver camper with no visible license plate, was illegally occupied and illegally parked on the property
Following the second fire, the city sent a letter to the property owners and posted it on the property detailing the code violations that needed to be corrected within 30 days.
The owners did not respond, nor were the issues abated, according to the city.
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Lonnie Hill, deputy city planning director, said that there had been “years of staff outreach” and formal letters attempting to bring the property into compliance.
GFFR responded at 1:46 a.m. on April 14, 2025 to the property after receiving a call of a generator on fire outside the house. When crews arrived, all occupants and their pets outside of the house.
The fire on the exterior of the house extended into the first and second floors.
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A second alarm was struck, meaning off duty firefighters are called back to duty, and Malmstrom Air Force Base and Montana Air National Guard firefighters backfilled the city until the called back city firefighters arrived.
GFFR firefighters made entry into the house, finding that the fire had spread to the wall and attic spaces.
It was labor-intensive for GFFR crews to get the fire under control since the house was made of lath and plaster.
Two of the five occupants of the house were transported to the hospital for medical evaluation.
GFFR Fire Marshal Mike McIntosh determined the fire was caused by the generator next to the house.
The previous April, a fire had occurred at the property, destroying the back apartment.
The 2024 fire was caused by improperly installed electrical work sending electricity to the back apartment.
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The portion of the house that caught fire in April 2025 hadn’t had utility services for several years, according to city staff.
The second fire at the same address highlighted a portion of city code that GFFR has since updated.
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Last year, the city adopted an addition to city code addressing the abatement of fire hazard nuisances caused by structures and states: “any and all buildings, ruins, chimneys, flues, boilers, walls, remains of burned buildings or other constructions within the city limits which, by reason of their construction or condition, are in danger of being set on fire, or are in any manner a menace to adjoining property or to the public generally, are each hereby declared to be a nuisance, and unlawful to exist on any premises within the incorporated city limits.”
Under the new code, if the property owner doesn’t abate the nuisances and “in case of a fire resulting directly or indirectly from the failure to promptly comply with the issued notice the following action will be taken: the owner(s) so failing to comply with such notice and abate said nuisance shall pay to the general fund of the city, after receipt of an itemized invoice from the fire chief, the actual costs incurred by GFFR in fighting such fire occurring subsequent to the required notice; if the owner/owners fail to pay the invoice from GFFR within 30 days from the invoice date, such costs may be assessed against the property. Such assessments may be included as part of an annual resolution assessing delinquent accounts.”
