GULF SHORES, Ala. — As the city continues to work to have houses destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 removed, Councilman Phillip Harris expressed concern about the process used by officials to get the eyesores demolished or repaired.

Finding owners, contacting owners and having the homes demolished at city expense has cost the city lots of time for city employees.

The latest two homes on the city’s list are at 1532 W. Beach Blvd. and 2881 W. Beach Blvd.

“One of them has indicated that she lives in Jacksonville, Fla., and doesn’t know any contractors around here,” Building Official Brandan Franklin said. “She told me to go ahead and send it through the city process and send her a bill. I let her know what the prices are going to be.”

And that’s where Harris’ concern began.

“I don’t know if we are able to recover anything other than the contractor’s cost, but that one lady has put you in the business of being the general contractor,” Harris said. “There ought to be some sort of administrative recovery fee if we’re in the business of collecting bids for customers to do something that we’ve asked them to do for quite a while now.

“They’ve all been out there pretty much since Hurricane Ivan.”

The latest effort to bring down the houses considered beyond repair began in March of 2012 with properties at 1628, 1468 and 1865, all on W. Beach Blvd. The first two have been demolished and the last one, 1865 owned by former Secretary of State Nancy Worley, has been repaired.

Others repaired are at 1341 W. Beach Blvd. 1385 Fort Morgan Road, 17799 Fort Morgan Road and 1043 W. Lagoon.

The two houses now before the council will cost more than $10,000 for the city to destroy and bill the owners. For 1532 the price is $6,050 and for 2882 the price is $4,445.

Finding and getting the owners to pay has been a struggle for city officials.

“The other owners I have talked to them and I’m not sure what kind of payment we are going to receive on them, but they are aware the houses are going down,” Franklin said. “I received three separate bids from three different companies with Unified Recovery Services coming in at the lowest on both houses.”

Councilwoman Carolyn Doughty asked Franklin if any payment had been made on the properties the city paid to have demolished.

“Have we received any payment for those or did we have to go out of pocket?” she asked. “I know we started out with like 12 or 15 on the list and how many do we have left to go and what’s the time frame on getting those done?”

Franklin said of the ones the city paid for, no repayment has been made from the owners. He said the city will have a lien on the properties until payment is made.

Harris wanted to know why the city was taking them on just a few at a time.

“We’re trying to work with a few property owners at a time,” Franklin said. “I could do them all at one time.”

Harris said the owners have had ample time to make repairs or eliminate the houses.

“If there are more out there, get them down,” Mayor Robert Craft said

Franklin said letters have been sent out on properties at 1973 W. Beach Blvd., where the owner of this house pulled a permit to repair the structure July 2012, but never made any repairs, there is an accessory structure at 1270 West Beach and 5096 Our Road and 4562 Fort Morgan Road have been sent letters.

“In the city limits we have three or four left that still need addressing and some out in Fort Morgan in the county area that need to be addressed as well,” Franklin said.