Princeton Property Maintenance, Inc.

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HAMILTON — Edward Bratton’s house on Joan Terrace has remained a garbage-infested biohazard since the elderly man died of natural causes and was found as a rotting corpse inside his dilapidated abode June 13.

Photographs released by the township show the interior of the boarded-up house littered with paper, plastic bags, food containers and lots of other junk.

But the house at 122 Joan Terrace will soon emerge as a sanitary dwelling now that the township has hired Hamilton-based Princeton Property Maintenance to clean out and disinfect the interior of the household.

The company is expected to begin sanitizing the property in the next three weeks, according to Township Construction Official Ray Lumio, who said it will take the company no more than two days to complete the task.

Bratton’s next door neighbor, Deborah Thomeier, 48, told The Trentonian after the board’s meeting that she’s “quite happy” with the township’s progress on dealing with Bratton’s house of funk.

Thomeier said Bratton used to masturbate and urinate on his front porch and that her grand kids referred to him as “The Bug Man,” but another neighbor remembered Bratton in a better light, saying the 86-year-old was an “avid reader” and a sharp, retired state worker…….

….. The issue that prevented the township from moving faster to clean up Bratton’s home is that Bratton had no known next of kin, which forced the township to go through a prolonged process to get authority to hire a company to enter and clean the abode.

Warney on Wednesday said the township remained unsuccessful in locating any of Bratton’s next-of-kin relatives. Any valuable items that Princeton Property Maintenance may find inside Bratton’s home will be separated and placed in storage for township inspection, officials said.

The Board of Public Officers on Wednesday also reviewed the case of an uninhabitable and unkempt property at 1199 Yardville-Allentown Road that was littered with abandoned cars, tires, a broken wheel barrow, other debris ... and peacocks.

The board gave the home’s owner, Jerilean Roberts, a local school teacher, 60 days to clean up the garbage that officials said has long been strewn around the property, creating a “health hazard” and prompting neighbors to complain.

Roberts told the board she will make an effort to dispose of the garbage within 60 days and that she intends on restoring the fire-wrecked house in the next 18 to 24 months.

HAMILTON — The late Edward Bratton’s property at 122 Joan Terrace is bio hazardous no more.

A group of contracted sanitation workers yesterday went inside the dilapidated house and polished the interior squeaky clean, said Robert Warney, the director of the township’s Department of Community Planning and Compliance.

“It’s completely cleaned out and it’s been sanitized,” said Warney, who saw the cleaned-up interior with his own eyes. Bratton, 86, died of natural causes and was found as a rotting corpse inside his garbage-infested house June 13.

Joan Terrace neighbors have been complaining all summer long about the poor status of Bratton’s structurally unsound home, but the township said it was hamstrung from taking swift action because Bratton had no known next-of-kin relatives who could grant the township permission to fix up the house.

The township was forced to go through a prolonged process to get legal authority to hire Hamilton-based Princeton Property Maintenance to clean out and disinfect the interior of the household, according to township officials.

Warney said it took three days for five Princeton Property Maintenance employees to remove the trash and disinfect the interior. The garbage was discarded in a “big dumpster,” Warney said.

The operation cost Hamilton taxpayers $8,800, but the township will place liens on the property to recoup the costs, Warney said. He also said Bratton’s wallet with $150 and jewelry were found inside the home during the cleanup and that those possessions will be turned over to the state.

The interior cleanup was the first step in fixing up Bratton’s home. The next phase requires a private company to demolish the structurally unsound rear portion of the house.

Warney said the $7,000 demolition is projected to start sometime next week and will be paid for with a federal Community Development Block Grant.

Some neighbors described Bratton as a strange man but acquaintances described him as an “avid reader” who had a sharp mind.

Acquaintances said Bratton was a retired state worker who often frequented Bill’s Olde Tavern on Nottingham Way. Many remembered him as a fashionable dresser who often took walks down Greenwood Avenue.