A former Hogansville resident told City Council on Monday night members “had his word” a dilapidated house would be brought up to code in 90 days.

Sherman Yarborough’s pledge was met with laughter by those in attendance at the meeting - and hearty skepticism from council members.

“You made us that promise three years ago,” said Councilman Thomas Pike. “I’m in construction myself, and it doesn’t take me three or four years to fix up a house. One way or another, we’re going to get this fixed up.”

Yarborough owns the former washeteria on Askew Street in the city’s mill village. He told council Monday night that he’d owned the building for about five years and his original intent was to turn it into a convenience store. But the building has sat, empty and deteriorating, since Yarborough’s purchase, even after he did make a similar pledge three years ago to City Council to fix it up.

Council recently has begun reviewing its ordinances for cracking down on dilapidated houses and had been grappling with how to deal with Yarborough, who had moved to Florida. When he learned of council’s discussion, Yarborough asked to be on council’s agenda Monday. Code enforcement officers served him with papers regarding citations on the Askew Street property after the council session ended.

City Manager Bill Stankiewicz told council it’s probably best at this point to let the courts decide if the property can be fixed.

“There have been citations issued,” Stankiewicz said. “We should now turn it over to the court to see if they feel 90 days is sufficient to fix the property.”

Council didn’t take a formal vote on tearing down the property or giving Yarborough more time, but members did have a heated exchange for more than 20 minutes with the man, who appeared at the meeting pushing a walker. Yarborough blamed the economy and other factors for the lack of progress on his house, but didn’t cite a medical condition.

Yarborough said he filled in the basement and made other upgrades since vandals attempted to set the building on fire a year ago. He told council he didn’t receive letters from the city regarding the house; code enforcement officer Devin Pattillo said he’d sent Yarborough four letters in the six months he’d been on the job.

“Other than the roof, the building is sound,” Yarborough said. “It’s worth saving.”

Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.