SAYLORSBURG, Pa. (AP) A contractor has been hired to clean up the northeastern Pennsylvania land formerly owned by a man accused of killing three people at a municipal meeting following a long-running dispute over the property.

Supervisors in Ross Township, in the Pocono Mountains about 85 miles north of Philadelphia, voted Monday night to hire Papillon Contracting for the job on the property formerly owned by Rockne Newell, The Pocono Record reported (http://bit.ly/1pFhIXO).Newell, 60, lost the debris-strewn property after a long legal battle with the township, which said it acted on complaints that he lived in a storage shed, built an illegal culvert and used a bucket outside as a toilet.Days after the township bought the property at a sheriff's sale, Newell fired dozens of rounds of gunshots at an August meeting of supervisors, killing two residents and the township zoning officer, authorities allege.Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.The company will demolish two buildings, remove all debris and remove the culvert pipe that served as a driveway.Trash dumped on the property in the months since the shooting lies alongside car parts and household items that Newell had collected.Chairman Howard Beers said Tuesday that even showing the property to contractors had been difficult for him."I don't want to live by it," he said. "I don't want to drive by it."Information from:Pocono Record,

http://www.poconorecord.com/