HOBART | The Board of Works has closed the door on issues involving an abandoned North Ohio Street house once deemed an eyesore and possible safety hazard.

The board last week agreed the exterior of the ranch-style home at 229 N. Ohio St., has been cleaned up sufficiently.

They also agreed to leave a $2,900 fine in place against homeowners Richard Boruff and his daughter Karen Boruff, neither of whom can be reached by city officials.

The house interior, which has a "do not occupy" posting, can't be inhabited because there is no running water, city officials said.

"No one can be in the house until the Board of Health OKs it," Clerk-Treasurer Deborah Longer said.

Board members and Mayor Brian Snedecor discussed the possibility of entering the house and cleaning the interior but dismissed the idea because the previous odor emitted is now gone.

"Unless there is a health risk, how far do we go?" Mayor Brian Snedecor asked.

The yard, which had every nook and cranny filled with left-behind bags of trash and discarded furnishings, has been cleaned up, said code enforcement officer Wally Kirkilewski.

"The exterior is acceptable except for the tall grass," he said.

The issues surrounding the Boruff house came to light earlier this year when out-of-town family members requested a wellness check on Richard Boruff, a 90-year-old former Hobart educator.

Because relatives hadn't heard from Boruff for several months, they contacted police, who discovered him living in Portage with his daughter.

Police, also contacted by city code enforcement officers due to neighbors' complaints, searched the house on North Ohio Street and discovered rotten food and feces from several cats that were left behind.

This wasn't the first time the Boruffs' property has gotten the attention of Hobart officials.

In late 2006, the Board of Works voted to have the property around the Boruff home cleaned up by a contractor after repeated efforts to get the family to clean it up failed.

The Boruffs began appearing before the Board of Works in December 2005 after neighbors complained about the condition of the property.

Volunteers offered to help clean up the property but were turned away, then-Mayor Linda Buzinec said.