In what seemed to be an unusual occurrence before the Bradford Board of Health, a property owner’s appeal came Tuesday with significant work already done to rectify the code violations.

The appeal hearing was requested by Aaron Griffith of Yorkshire, N.Y., owner of 81 Williams St. He began by presenting before-and-after photos of work he had accomplished so far, and apologized for not having done more, explaining he was down for a few months with a significant health issue.

Holding up a list from property maintenance inspector John Boswell, Griffith said, “I think I got everything corrected except for the sidewalk.”

Running through the list, he said he’d put in a downspout, repaired the foundation, repaired or replaced exterior doors, put in new windows where needed, replaced siding in places, removed debris from the yard and has obtained roofing materials for the porch and addition.

“The sidewalk, I’m not sure what needs repaired and what doesn’t,” Griffith said. He said he plans to do that after the roof. “There was something about vectors. I had a pest company come in and inspect it.”

Tom Riel, board member, said, “I drive by that house every day. I noticed that over two months now you’ve been working diligently to clean it up.”

Board member Kris Goll asked what Griffith plans to do with it. When he replied he didn’t know, Riel said the city needs quality rental property, and that he may be able to sell it or rent it for a profit over what he has in it.

Special counsel Tyler Hannah presented testimony from health director Brandon Plowman and contracted inspector Jeff Andrews, outlining areas where work still needs to be done. Roofs on accessory structures, unpainted exterior structures, some siding issues, utilities, and the sidewalk are the main issues, they stated.

Plowman said, “Throughout the course of the past few months, improvements have been made.”

“Significant ones?” Riel asked.

“Yes,” Plowman said.

To the board, Riel said, “I think he’s made significant progress in a short amount of time.”

To Griffith, he said, “I think if you complete these things mentioned, we’ll be able to remove it from the list. If you can get that wrapped up in the next couple of months, we can take it off the list.”

Riel continued, “I commend you for doing the work you are doing. So many times people come before us and it’s just a bunch of fluff and hot air and they don’t actually do it. I wish we had more people who came before us who were making significant progress instead of just excuses.”

Goll echoed Riel’s comments, and asked Griffith not to “put a Band-Aid on it,” but to fix up the house to match the condition of the others in the neighborhood. “Our intent is to try to bring the neighborhoods back.”

The board voted to continue the matter, allowing Griffith to carry on with his renovations.

Board President Fred Proper said, “I would like to thank you, Mr. Griffith, for all the work you’ve done so far.”

Also at the meeting, Proper announced that Kimberly Austin, owner of 194 E. Main St., has appealed the board’s order to the McKean County Court of Common Pleas. A hearing has been set for 1 p.m. Aug. 25. In June at a board meeting, Plowman went through a list of issues with the property, including a debris-filled yard, a roof needing replacement, conditional issues with the siding, foundation, a window, gutters and an accessory structure in poor repair. “There’s an extensive history of code violations of debris in the yard specifically,” he said, explaining they’ve been cited six times.

Appeal hearings were scheduled for Aug. 19 for 72 Holley Ave. and 243 Jackson Ave.