Rampant bed bugs, discarded hypodermic needles and frequent police visits at a Broad Street hotel sent a clear message to city officials that it’s time for another inspection of the County Barn Motel and Campground.

Alderman-at-Large Brian McCarthy said last week there are "deplorable" conditions at the 507 Broad St. complex depicted in the television show "Hotel Impossible" and broadcast Sept. 8 on Travel Channel.

Given the filth, vermin and apparent safety issues the show revealed, McCarthy and other aldermen question how local code enforcement officers found no violations during previous visits.

They suggest code enforcers meet with the board to discuss their findings. If their inspections uncovered no health or code violations, they said the board should consider enacting stricter local rules.

"There needs to be a public airing of this thing," Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess said.

Donchess said he hasn’t yet seen the "Hotel Impossible" show, and based his comments on a lengthy complaint local real estate investor Nathaniel Durgin publicly lodged against the hotel at the board’s meeting on Wednesday.

"It’s just hard to believe that there aren’t code violations based on what he is describing," Donchess said.

Donchess said he would like code enforcement officers to inspect not only the Country Barn Motel and Campground, but also 23 Temple St., and present their findings to the board.

"What are the conditions? Are there violations? And if there are deplorable conditions that do not violate the codes, then we should update them, improve them and strengthen them," Donchess said.

The Country Barn Motel and Campground is owned by F. Lavoie Apartments, a real estate partnership that includes Tom Lavoie and his cousin Dan Gagnon. Tim Lavoie, a longtime Public Works commissioner who died in a May 6 motorcycle accident, was another partner and Tom Lavoie’s brother.

The more than 40-unit complex of motel rooms and cabin-style campsites is on the western end of the city and was owned by Tom Lavoie’s father, Ferdinand.

Donchess said the 23 Temple St. apartment house also should be investigated given earlier concerns raised by Ward 9 Alderman Ken Siegel regarding substandard living conditions and frequent police activity at that site.

The city’s welfare office pays to temporarily house people at both locations who have no place to live, aldermen said.

Siegel agreed the "Hotel Impossible" show indicates "there is clearly an issue here," and supports the idea of asking the code enforcement department to investigate.

Siegel stressed he has a "lot of confidence" in the code enforcement department and other city employees, and believes aldermen should review the history of complaints made against the Country Barn Motel and Campground.

Durgin, who owns a rental property at 10 Unicorn Way that abuts Country Barn, said he waged a two-year battle with the city over alleged code and health violations. Durgin said he had given up until he saw "Hotel Impossible" depict the bed bug infestations, a syringe and dirty rooms.

Durgin said the the hotel’s 507 Broad St. address "doesn’t exist in city records."

Durgin told aldermen, "If you try to get a police report on the Country Barn Hotel, you probably won’t find it because it doesn’t exist."

In fact, Nashua officials said they track all calls for service to the Country Barn Motel and Campground under 507 Broad St., and promptly provided The Telegraph with a written report of the last 250 calls.

Police reports show they went to the motel and campground 118 times since Jan. 1, Deputy Chief Denis Linehan said.

Recent drug-related calls for services include an apparent overdose in the parking lot on Sept. 4, the arrest of a resident on five felony charges for selling heroin on Sept. 2 and a resident who survived a heroin overdose on Aug. 31, Linehan said.

On May 6, police seized several hypodermic needles found near the picnic tables and, on June 2, arrested a guest on a warrant for assisting in a drug deal, he said.

In addition, police received three reports of alleged sexual assaults since July – two involving juvenile victims.

All are being investigated, Linehan said.

One report accuses a male guest of aggravated felonious sexual assault against a female juvenile on July 19, Linehan said. Another involves an alleged forcible rape by an adult male of an adult female acquaintance on July 12, he said.

The third report came in Sept. 7 from a mother who told police her daughter was sexually assaulted at the complex two years ago when the girl was a juvenile, Linehan said.

County Barn Motel and Campground is well known to police, Linehan said. It and the Nashua Mall account for the highest number of police calls in the predominantly residential sector of the city, he added.

Most calls to the Country Barn involve domestic disputes, unwanted visitors and disruptive guests, Linehan said.

In an interview last week, co-owners Lavoie and Gagnon said they comply with all city zoning ordinances, and that all guests have access to bathrooms and showers whether in individual units or in a bathhouse.

While Lavoie said the television show portrayed the owners in an unfavorable light, he didn’t dispute the complex was infested with bed bugs. He said they since bought a heat-treating device that kills them. He also said he and Gagnon remodeled "three rooms and three cabins" since the show was filmed in April.

A review of records kept at the city’s code enforcement office show complaints about fire, electrical and safety hazards have been brought against Country Barn since at least 2005. Documents show code enforcers deemed them unsubstantiated. One 2013 report said the site is a "recognized trailer park" and the "building codes do not apply to (a) trailer park."

The city’s code enforcement officer, Nelson Ortega, acknowledged in an interview last week that there have been complaints made in the past, but said, "They are a legitimate hotel and legitimate campground. We have inspected it, walked it, looked at it."

Jurisdiction falls to the city’s Division of Public Health, which is managed by Heidi Peek-Kukulka, Ortega said.

"We do housing," he said. "All hotels and motels fall under her. We work in conjunction with her" and may go to the site together.

Regardless of the chain of responsibility, Ortega said, "We’ve all been there."

A law enacted in 2014 specifically addresses bedbugs in rental housing, he said. But the Country Barn isn’t classified as rental housing; it’s classified as a motel and campground.

Under the 2014 law, tenants must make a complaint and the landlord has seven days to respond, Ortega said.

With regard to regular inspections, city building safety inspector Bill McKinney said, "The city has no ordinance for that. Other cities in the state and country do have annual code compliance inspections for some facilities, such as college dormitories. This city does not have an ordinance for that."

Lavoie said he and Gagnon want "to do things right. … We can make this much better than what it was, and we have been doing that."

Lavoie said his parents bought the nearly 8-acre site in the early 1970s and that his father converted it into a motel and campground.

"He always wanted to own a motel," Lavoie said. "He thought it was a sign you had it made … like a Cadillac or something like that."

Lavoie said Durgin has been "a constant source of issues."

"Most of his issues he creates, I guess is the best way to say it," Lavoie said.

Michelle Kelley, who has lived at the Country Barn about five months, was featured on "Hotel Impossible," on which she and her two children showed bed bug bites on their bodies.

"It’s cleaned up since I first got here," she said.

Another resident, Linda Nightingale, also said the complex has improved since "Hotel Impossible" finished filming in April and a new general manager was hired.

"It’s been a 100 percent turnaround," said Nightingale, who said she has has lived there about a year.

Kathryn Marchocki can be reached at 594-6589, kmarchocki@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_KMar. Don Himsel can be reached at 594-6590, dhimsel@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_Don.