GORHAM – A lawyer for the former owner of a troubled Gorham fraternity house seized by the town for delinquent taxes said Tuesday his client holds the mortgage and is owed $160,000.

Tuesday, the Gorham Town Council endorsed the town’s seizure of the property at 27 Preble St., home of Gamma Omega of Phi Kappa Sigma.

The council did not decide on any future disposition of the property. Options could include selling the property or working with the previous owner, represented by Bill Leete, a Portland attorney, who identified his client as Marie-Noelle Ces.

Leete said Ces sold the property to the local chapter of the fraternity in 2003. Leete said no bank was involved. His client financed the deal for $180,000 and is still owed $160,000.

“It would be unfortunate if she lost all this money,” Leete said at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting. “If the property goes, it’s pretty much everything she has.”

Ces could not be reached by telephone Wednesday.

Residents in the Gamma Omega Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity house already had been notified in a June letter from the town’s lawyer that the town owned the property and it needed to be vacated by the end of July.

The town had four matured tax liens on the fraternity’s property.

“All we need is one and we have four,” Town Manager David Cole said. “Our title is probably pretty good.”

Cole told the council the amount of taxes owed as of Tuesday was $27,143.56, and the figure was changing daily. The amount had risen from $26,937.21 the fraternity owed on May 20.

Cole confirmed Wednesday that Ces as a mortgage holder had been properly notified of the tax liens.

Leete said when his client called the town she was told the fraternity had a payment plan.

The fraternity had signed a tax payment agreement in May 2005 to pay the town $200 monthly. But, Cole said Tuesday, the fraternity had not complied with it.

Leete said his client could come up with funds to pay off the taxes.

Leete said he heard the town’s reasons “and I hope they work with my client.”

Ryan Edwards of South Portland, an alumnus and fraternity chapter adviser, had hoped for an alternative solution to the town’s taking the fraternity’s property.

“Tax liens came as quite a surprise to me,” Edwards said at the meeting.

The fraternity is one of three in a downtown residential neighborhood, along with a former sorority where several women reside.

The behavior of students in the neighborhood has been an ongoing issue, and town officials this week attributed numerous police responses in recent years to that fraternity.

Keith Lynds of 7 Preble St. said the concentration of Greek life students has been a strain on the neighborhood. Lynds hoped for a future live-in landlord at 27 Preble St.

“I’d like to see an individual be responsible,” Lynds said at the meeting.

According to town records, 38 police calls were directly attributed to 27 Preble St. since 2005 and 149 calls overall were attributed to activities at 27 Preble St. in the past five years.

“Actions of this fraternity have been deplorable, Burleigh Loveitt, vice chairman of the Town Council, said. “This has been a menace and a threat.”

A neighbor of the fraternity, Scott Files of 15 Preble St., suggested that the fraternities be relocated to the university property.

“My concern is quality of life of residents paying their taxes,” Town Councilor Matt Robinson said.

“We’re voting to take possession,” Loveitt said. “Bolt and bar the place.”

The council voted 5-1, with Noah Miner opposed.

Miner worried about the town assuming liability in taking possession of the property and favored allowing 30 days for taxes to be paid before putting the property out to bid.

In a series of past neighborhood meetings organized by university officials, residents had aired complaints of rowdy student behavior including drinking, vandalism, offensive language and public indecency. In an interview after this week’s Town Council meeting, Loveitt said that some Preble Street neighbors had feared for their personal safety even inside their houses.

Edwards said a group working with the fraternity’s national headquarters this year had reviewed core values of the Gorham chapter.

“That property is now a dry property,” Edwards said.

Doug Carter, owner of Carter’s Auto Service on Elm Street that is a neighbor of the fraternity, said, “It sounds like too little too late.”

The fraternity house had previously been shut down several years ago because of code violations, but had been brought up to standards. However, town officials on June 2 inspected the property and found a long list of concerns and code violations including raw sewage “coming up” from the basement floor.

“I don’t know if there is anything left we can do,” Edwards said following the meeting. “My main concern is (Ms.) Ces, a longtime Gorham resident.”

The Gamma Omega of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity has until the end of July to vacate this house seized by Gorham. The fraternity owes more than $27,000 in back taxes to the town, which has seized the property. (Staff photo by Robert Lowell)