BATH

Alan Orchard and his wife, Yvonne, left City Hall on Wednesday with assurances the city will help them.

Minutes earlier, the City Council voted 8-1 to declare their home at 45 Windjammer Way “dangerous and unsafe,” setting the stage for their possible eviction. The council will consider a timeframe for how to proceed at its next meeting Dec. 19.

The Orchards have no money to pay for new housing, but the city and others said they stand ready to help them.

“I hope you go home with a good feeling of hope tonight,” Councilor Meadow Rue Merrill said as Yvonne Orchard helped her 81-year-old husband to his feet and out the door after 10 p.m. Wednesday.

Town Manager William Giroux said he is “almost sure” the city can help the Orchards, who will meet with city officials Friday.

Earlier, Councilor David Sinclair put the matter of a potentially homeless couple into sharp perspective.

“We just allocated $12,000 for holiday lights,” Sinclair said. “These lights are going to shine pretty dimly if we allow something to happen to these people in our midst.”

The Orchards are living with a hole in their roof covered by a tarp, and a slanted building that a structural engineer considers dangerous.

Helen Watts, a structural engineer who was present at Wednesday night’s meeting, stated in her Nov. 29 report the Orchards’ home is “quite out of plumb, there’s a large hole in the roof and parts of the floor structure are damaged and/or deteriorated.”

Watts concluded the building should be vacated until the building could be made safe, prompting a report to the council from city Code Enforcement Officer Scott Davis.

The Orchards sat patiently as both the public and council members commented on the issue, well beyond their bed time. Alan Orchard, kindly in nature, eventually got to the point where he wanted to speak.

Helped to the podium, Orchard advised the council that he knows a thing or two about structures.

“There’s a few things (Watts) said that I don’t agree with,” Orchard said. “I’m an ex-carpenter. I don’t want to put money into a home only to be kicked out. We’ve been there 26 years, and the house was tilted for 40 years before that. I don’t intend to have the tarp there forever, and I do intend to leave, but we don’t have a place to go.”

Orchard then explained why the couple has no means to make a move: Yvonne Orchard’s hours at a local supermarket have been cut back, and his only income is Social Security.

“We don’t even have $6 left over from her paycheck,” he said. “She’s down to 16 hours, which leaves us $60.

“I just feel hurt that we have to come down here and beg for the house. I’m not begging for the house. I don’t feel the house is worth repairing.”

City officials have urged the Orchards to apply for public housing. They resisted, until recently. The couple has applied for elderly disabled housing with the Bath Housing

Authority, but there is a waiting list.

Councilor Carolyn Lockwood suggested that Habitat for Humanity might become involved.

David Foster, of Georgetown, said he and co-workers at Bath Iron Works have begun a grassroots effort to help the Orchards.

“I’m just here because of this appalling situation,” Foster said. “What if the roof is repaired. What is the bare minimum? He lives in his house and he’s happy.”

Davis acknowledged the delicate nature of the situation.

“I feel it’s a dangerous building,” Davis said. “It’s a really hard situation. The Orchards are really nice people. I wish we weren’t here dealing with it.”

Sinclair, who voted against declaring the building unsafe, challenged his fellow councilors. Sinclair is the only councilor who bothered to visit the Orchards, he said, and asked Andrew Winglass why that’s the case.

Winglass replied that this has been an issue since 2009.

“I think there’s embarrassment because there are cameras here,” Sinclair said.

Councilor Mary Eosco objected, and suggested that such comments could be made in private.

lgrard@timesrecord.com