DES MOINES, Iowa — A business owner on the south side of Des Moines and his employees say they've been dealing with a tiresome issue all summer.
Property manager Lana Schippers said they've been burning through cash quickly over the last several months all because someone keeps dumping piles of tires on their property.
Speaking only to Local 5's Chenue Her, Schippers said she's afraid this won't stop.
"It's a lot," she said, as she stood next to a pile of tires dumped on their property just this week.
After years as the property manager, Schippers thought she'd seen it all during her time managing this building on SW 9th Street, which houses different businesses such as Printing by Design, Inc.
"I've watched over the properties at least 20 years." she said.
But this year, they're not dealing with this new problem.
"Someone keeps dropping tires off. This last time and the time before, it was in the light, which was surprising because the times before it was in the dark," said Schippers.
She said she's seen as many as four people dumping tires all at once.
As the problems roll in, Schippers and her colleagues are getting fed up.
She said clearing all of these tires requires a lot of time, money, as well as hard work. Some of those tires have actually ended up in their dumpster over the summer and that costs even more time, money and work.
The tires don't move until they can find and pay someone to get rid of them. Each round of cleanup can cost up to $400.
"I start texting everybody," Schippers added.
She said they've been working to figure out who's dumping piles of tires behind their building and in the dumpster. Security camera photos Schippers shared with Local 5 aren't quite clear enough, she said. But, they've gotten new lights installed on the property, hoping it'll help.
For Schipper, she can't help but sigh when talking about the continuous headache this is causing.
"I would hope that, I don't know … I would hope they don't do it again," she told Local 5. "It's just one more cost that … we're selling this building so a lot of our businesses are closed now. During the pandemic, they were shut down and we just didn't recover so now it's just a cost that keeps incurring."
Schippers said because this is private property, the City of Des Moines will inspect their property and if it isn't cleaned up, the building owner will get a fine. Although a big problem for their property, Schippers believes this is an issue impacting more people like them and she's urging the people responsible to stop.