Update: Smith takes aim

Sandusky city commissioner Jeff Smith fired back at his personal Facebook page Sunday, contending a story published by the Register was "mostly fiction." The item was later removed or blocked from public view a short while after he posted it."While I may not be a perfect property owner, I am not a slumlord, nor is that building unsafe," Smith wrote in the 500-word post. "I also do not let tenant issues go without being addressed."Read Smith's Facebook postDespite his statements to the contrary, some tenants and former tenants alike have provided the Register information that shows Smith acknowledged his failure to keep up with the work needed at the property. He'd honestly "forgotten" about repair requests, he told one tenant, suggesting in the future she tell him about any specific problems at least three times. A tenant who contacted the Register last week said she repeatedly asked Smith to fix a broken window in the door to her apartment. "It was late August," Nene Simboli said. "I persisted in asking weekly. Finally in late November the cold coming through the window had become unbearable even with it being closed up with cardboard and tape."Simboli also detailed numerous concerns about the property the Register later verified and reported about on Saturday. Smith contends Simboli broke the window and she is retaliating against him because he gave her a three-day eviction notice Sept. 29 for non-payment of her rent.At that time she owed about $200 in back rent, according Simboli. Smith said in the Facebook post he later removed or blocked that the amount she owed was "well over two months." He wasn't sure of the amount when he talked with the Register on Friday. Read: Tenants fear building unsafeSmith called the Register's entertainment editor, Michelle Pletcher, on Friday after he talked with the reporter and editor working on news coverage about the building. Pletcher rents at Feick Apartments and the two discussed issues she had brought to Smith's attention previously that he failed to address. Pletcher also asked him about concerns she and other tenants had, specifically, about who he was allowing to live in the building. Smith told her he let a sex offender and his pregnant girlfriend at one time live in the basement and he allows a heroin addict to live in one of the apartment units.He also told her there was nothing he could do to stop drug abuse from happening at his properties. Pletcher was blunt with Smith despite his assurances the property was safe. "I live in a building with my infant daughter filled with spiders where a sex offender was living in the basement, there's water leaking from the ceiling and there's a drug addict living next door. How am I supposed to take that?" she asked Smith.She and her family were not safe at the building, Pletcher told Smith on Friday, contrary to what Smith posted at his Facebook page Saturday. "I'm not trying to make you believe I'm telling the truth and you're not," Smith told her. "Honestly, you and I have a total total different memory on what happened. I promise you I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. I'm not trying to make you believe I'm telling the truth and you're not. I'm not trying to tell you you're wrong.""What I'm saying is, I really, really, don't … the only thing I remember is the locks. I thought everything else was fine... You and I have a total total different memory of what happened," he said."How am I supposed to feel safe?" she asked Smith. "If you want to move, that's fine. I'm not going to be a jerk to you. Everything will be good between us. I'm not a bad guy," Smith told her. Smith did not respond to a follow-up inquiries he was sent Saturday and Sunday after he talked with the Register about the coverage of the building on Friday.The news article Saturday detailed some of the issues in the common areas of the building, including a dirty, unsafe stairwell, broken windows, leaking ceilings and a wet, messy basement where the laundromat is located. Pletcher also said she used a lead paint test at her apartment Sunday. The test showed a positive result for lead-based paint, she said.Smith told her Friday if she wasn't happy at the building she could vacate the apartment."Somebody moved out before you moved in," he told her. "I'm sure I'll find someone else to rent it."*Note: This post has been modified to add a link to the full post at Facebook by Smith and to change language about its accessibility for public viewing. SmithFeick ApartmentsScreenshot of ith's Favebook postA section of the basement at Feick Apartments. /Register photo Luke WarkOne of several broken windows at Feick Apartments. /Register photo Luke WarkDirty carpet pulled from stairs in stairwell at Feick Apartments. /Register photo Luke Wark