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District Heights public works supervisor Brian Edwards said five to six employees and a couple of hours are necessary to tackle the waist-high grass of one city foreclosed property, hours that could go toward picking up city litter.

Still, employees like Edwards have to make the time if the banks that own the properties don't.

Central area municipality public works and code enforcement departments have taken over the upkeep of foreclosed and vacant homes but struggle to maintain regular services or get in contact with the individuals and banks that own the properties.

District Heights Code Inspector John Lamarre said since May 20 his office has cited 33 foreclosed properties for dead tree limbs on the city's streets, high grass and trash. There are 1,597 single-family homes and 135 townhouses in District Heights.

Edwards said he has never seen so many vacant properties in his 27 years in the city. He said public works has cut 21 lawns in the last 30 days.

"Right now all the properties that we're cutting for the first time, everything's been waist-high or taller," Lamarre said. "It's not like we can drop a few mowers. It's a big operation. I have about five or six guys attacking each one."

Edwards said public works usually designates one day out of the week to address vacant and foreclosed properties. He said the attention paid to these properties detracts from time spent on mowing the city's common area lawns, litter collection and street cleaning because the department cleans the street by hand. There are eight public works employees.

"It puts us behind on everything," Edwards said.

Edwards said code enforcement tries to contact the property owner, whether a bank or individual, and gives them 72 hours to correct any problems before the city steps in. Lamarre said in an e-mail to The Gazette said there are 27 properties held by banks in District Heights.

"Some banks are very cooperative after they are notified about the problem. They give the city an OK to proceed and to request the bill go to them immediately," Lamarre wrote. "However, these [actions] are few and far in between."

Joseph Welch, New Carrollton's code enforcement director, said banks can be located as far away as California and Florida and few go the extra mile, such as winter home repair, on property maintenance. City Administrator Mike Downes said there are about 69 vacant and foreclosed properties out of 2,550 single-family homes.

"Sometimes they have their own little company to take care of distressed properties," Welch said. "The rest of them don't do anything at all so it's a small number."

Welch said vacant properties put a strain on every department.

"It makes people in the community uneasy to have to watch for break-ins, theft and undesirables getting in there, and of course the physical appearance of the property is important," Welch said. "You don't want that to impact the other homes negatively. We're obliged to take care of them."

Other towns are using contracted services to deal with the tall grass issue.

Landover Hills Town Manager Kathy Tavel said her town contracts out for landscaping, and cutting lawns of vacant homes are tacked onto the usual tasks of cutting recreation grounds and grass islands. She said there are about 10 to 15 vacant properties out of 500 single-family homes in Landover Hills.

Tavel said the town is charged per home, a fee that is then assessed to the property owner, and she expects by September the town will receive $2,500 in property taxes from all of them.

Capitol Heights Town Administrator James Booth said the town selected a contractor for landscaping services after the council voted to eliminate its public works department to save the town between $50,000 and $100,000 and boost the town's social services. Booth said about $30,000 will be set aside to cut lawns and clean about 25 vacant or foreclosed properties. There are 1,440 single-family homes in incorporated Capitol Heights.

Booth said residents have complained about loitering inside properties with broken windows and doors. He said the town held a foreclosure workshop seminar June 24 for residents in danger of losing their homes.

Edwards has some immediate relief thanks to the District Heights commissioners, who approved four city teens to work with public works part-time 20 hours a week this summer on vacant and foreclosed properties. The youth started Monday.

"That will help ease the burden," Edwards said.

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.