The first agenda item at Tim Krug’s first Oregon City Council meeting as a commissioner was to tear down Paul Shaffner’s home and evict him.
He couldn’t vote for it.
“I said wait a minute,” Krug said. “The back wall was missing. They couldn’t get him to fix it or accept help. I tabled it and talked to him. I learned his story. He had no family or savings. He lived off the grid. No phone. He said he couldn’t get contractors. I started making contacts and moves. I told the council I had people on board.”
A tree fell on Shaffner’s home five years ago and damaged it. Weather damage has ensued since. Krug and Hands On Oregon recently finished renovating Shaffner’s home using a $10,000 USDA grant and Shaffner will soon move back in after being put up at an apartment.
The process started in May 2019. Along with fixing the wall, a new furnace was put in and plumbing work was done. Volunteers helped with the labor and materials were donated like a $6,100 roof from Tip Top Roofing in Sycamore.
The project wasn’t what Krug expected to work on as a commissioner, but after coming from a family of contractors and a career fixing cars, he didn’t see the home as totaled.
“I’ve been a businessman in Oregon for 30 years,” Krug said. “I fix things that are broken and that’s how I looked at it. People said it was beyond repair. The right bridges weren’t crossed to find help. People said it was fixable. The guy just didn’t have the means.”
Shaffner has lived in the home since 1962, Krug said. At one point he stopped paying for utilities and used a wood-burning stove to keep warm.
“The biggest change for me, I will be enjoying the place and what they’ve done to it,” Shaffner said. “They’ve done it about as good as anyone could do it.”
Rick Ryland of Hands On Oregon agreed to take the lead on the project and enjoyed seeing the community come together. He never thought the project would be as large as it was.
“When I opened the door and the whole wall moved, I wondered what I’d gotten myself into,” Ryland said. “The tree destroyed a third of his house. Now he has a nice winterized house.”
Ryland called it “a wonder” that Shaffner was able to live in the home in its condition before the work began.
“The back end of his home was open,” Ryland said. “He would’ve been asphyxiated if not for that. Fumes were coming into the house. Vents were rusted. The heat turned the walls black with soot. It’s a wonder it didn’t burn down. The wall being out saved that.”
Krug is thankful for Hands On Oregon and the way the community came together. He called the project a win for Shaffner, the city and the neighbors. He recalled his first meeting with Shaffner and knowing there was a chance they could get something done to save his home after meetings with others didn’t yield that feeling.
“We moved him into the 21st century,” Krug said. “He was in pilgrim days. He’s 78 years old. I never knew him. That’s all he knew. He became accustomed to it.”