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REGULAR MEETING NOVEMBER 26, 2007 <br />table. This proposed bill dovetails and works so well with what the City already have in <br />existence and gives an additional tool and also helps use the tools that are already in place <br />to enforce the unsafe building act. She stated that she believes that this bill will work <br />really well and Code Enforcement will be able to do the important work that it does to <br />enforce this. She urged the Council's favorable consideration. <br />Ms. Catherine Toppel, Director, Code Enforcement, 13th Floor County-City Building, <br />South Bend, Indiana, stated that her department has been working for five (5) years <br />reviewing various registration across the nation, landlord registration, tenant registration, <br />vacant property registration and rental registration in general. This ordinance will be an <br />additional tool that her department can utilize in documenting vacant and abandoned <br />homes within the City. In addition, this ordinance will require a local contact person to <br />be appointed within fifty (50) miles and that the City will have access to this person. She <br />stated that her department faces large obstacles everyday. One of the biggest obstacles <br />that they face is finding a local contact for a property that is vacant and abandoned. This <br />ordinance will require corporations, land trusts, the LLC's to appoint a local contact <br />person. She stated that the City has many of those organizations that they attempt to <br />work with everyday and they don't know who to contact. She is targeting the worst of <br />the worst with this ordinance that is why it is consider the vacant and abandoned home <br />structure ordinance. This is not for someone who is trying to sell their property that has <br />been taken care, this is the worst of the worst. She stated that questions have been raised <br />about enforceability, inspectors within the Department of Code Enforcement will be <br />received mobile hand held wireless units which will give them direct access to the <br />database within the Department of Code Enforcement on the 13th Floor of the County- <br />City Building. They will have immediate information available, along with training that <br />will be necessary and provided for by the company with whom the units will be <br />purchased. She stated that she is aware that this will be a learning experience for <br />everyone and some quirks will have to be worked out. However, this will eliminate an <br />estimate of half of the paperwork that they are producing, currently when they are out in <br />the field the inspector might not recall exactly whether a property had been sighted. They <br />don't know if what they are inspecting is new trash, old trash, has that house been vacant <br />recently or has it been a week, because they are out there everyday. This hand held unit <br />will give them immediate access and not having to write out a separate ticket each time <br />that they are out in the field. In addition, this ordinance requires certain boarding <br />requirements be put in place. These requirements mimic the current requirements that are <br />currently being written to be put into the international property maintenance code in <br />February 2008, when they will be voted on. Those requirements are being written by the <br />International Code Council which governs building codes, fire codes, electrical, heating <br />etc. Sothis is not something new as far as the boarding requirements are concerned. <br />Those requirements will help prevent access to the vacant homes and help prevent the <br />vandalism that occurs in these vacant and abandoned homes. She stated that the <br />Department of Code Enforcement is in full support of this ordinance. <br />Ms. Lois Spaulding, 1124 N. Meade Street, South Bend, Indiana, stated that the vacant <br />and abandoned ordinance is needed something has to be done to get the landlord attention <br />who think that they can just abandon their properties. She stated that there are vacant and <br />abandoned buildings and houses throughout the City, and although she has lived on the <br />northwest side of the City her entire life she seen her neighborhood deteriorate <br />drastically. There are not only empty houses, but vacant and abandoned houses as well. <br />She stated that there are seventeen (17) houses on her block with eight (8) only being <br />owner occupied, the other nine (9) are rental houses and two (2) are occupied. Eight (8) <br />of the rental properties have landlords that are not visible only one (1) rental property has <br />a landlord who keeps his property up. She stated that she saw this landlord and told him <br />that she really appreciated all the hard work he has done to keep this property up. The <br />other eight (8) rental properties are deteriorating and the landlords are absent. One rental <br />burnt four to five weeks ago and the landlord has done nothing to clean up the burnt mess <br />in the front yard. The house is now a burned out shell with no landlord in sight, and as a <br />matter of fact lives out of state but supposedly has a local agent to take care of it and both <br />have done nothing. She stated that she has called to complain about the renters when she <br />was finally able to track down a phone number. The landlord proceeded to tell her that <br />he did not have a clue what was going on at his own property. He stated that he has <br />7 <br />