ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (WXYZ) — A St. Clair Shores homeowner says he's fighting a growing rat problem and blames a missing section of what's called a "rat wall" that was ordered to keep critters out. The city says there is a wall, but this dispute is now making its way into city hall.
Watch Randy Wimbley's video report:
Jeffrey Clem says his rodent problems begin where the rat wall supposedly ends. The rats are getting bigger and more abundant, he said.
"I was over here getting wood for a bonfire and had a rat run across my foot," Clem said.
Clem says the wall stops at a seam on his property. The St. Clair Shores homeowner is furious over a wall the city ordered neighboring Nick's Country Oven to build between their properties two years ago, along with a 42-inch deep rat wall meant to keep critters from burrowing underneath.
But Clem claims the rat wall is missing on his side of a section of the concrete barrier.
"It was built on nothing but a 2-by-6, 10-foot, 12-foot stop link plank," Clem said.
Clem counted seven rat tunnels along the barrier.
Nick Gojcij, the restaurant owner, says he did everything he was supposed to do.
"Me, I (did not) do the job. I call the company, charge me $26,000. I pay for the wall to put it there and everybody approved. I don't know what he wants," Gojcij said.
I spoke with the mayor by phone. He says this has been inspected and there is a rat wall there. You can see a footing along the concrete wall on the restaurant's side and what appear to be a few holes underneath it.
But the mayor says the city had not been able to get a final inspection on the other side because Clem did not allow the contractor onto his property.
"Whatever it takes to get it done, because I have a 2-and-a-half-year-old grandson, and I don't want him bit by a rat," Clem said.
The city says it will get the inspection going if Clem goes down to city hall and requests one to be put on the books. So, he did.
"We can do an inspection on the wall as it sits currently, and then we can talk to the contractor about what needs to be corrected," Denise Pike, a city official said.
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