DuBois City Council was approached about the subject of property lines and surveying Monday night.
Stephen Karschner of DuBois requested that the city reimburse him $750 he paid to have his property lines surveyed. The survey was done due to Karschner’s neighbor building a fence three feet onto his property, according to Karschner. A city ordinance states a fence must be built a foot from the property lines.
Members council at the time looked at the property and notified the neighbor of the ordinance later that day. Karschner stated the current Mayor Gary Gilbert, City Manager John “Herm” Suplizio, council member Randy Schmidt and the then city works pfficer inspected the holes dug for the fence a few years ago.
City Solicitor Toni Cherry stated at the meeting that she had told Karschner earlier in the fence construction that this was a civil matter. The chain of action involves getting a survey done, getting legal counsel and contacting the infringing property owner. The city is not involved with these matters.
As of the meeting Karschner had contacted legal counsel, but stopped at that step as his neighbor did not own the property he was living at. The fence was torn down soon after the survey was completed.
According to Suplio, issues involving property lines similar to this happen all the time.
Karschner had other complaints involving other incidents with his neighbor, but Police Chief Mike DiLullo stated that those incidents either were not reported to the police yet, or no witness had come forward to the police to identify the offending party.