During the August meeting of Pottsville City Council, Mayor Tom Smith said code enforcement and blight were among the most common concerns raised by residents during the campaign and that the administration is working to address shortcomings in the city's previous enforcement process.
"One of the biggest complaints we had during the campaign was code enforcement and blight. So, we're really tackling that," Smith said.
According to the mayor, one of the biggest problems was not necessarily identifying violations, but making sure they were corrected after property owners were cited.
"Biggest thing that we had was lack of follow-up," Smith said, explaining that cases could previously "fall through the cracks."
"That's no longer going to happen," he said.
City Restructuring Code Enforcement
As part of that effort, the city has brought former employee Dave Petravich back as a part-time code enforcement officer to provide stability while officials work toward filling positions on a permanent basis.
The city is currently seeking a full-time Code Enforcement and Compliance Officer. Officials are also looking to hire an Assistant City Administrator/Authority and Grants Manager.
In the meantime, Pottsville is utilizing two third-party code agencies to assist the city with procedures and follow-up work.
Councilman Scott Price, during the public affairs report, said Petravich's return is already helping distribute the department's workload.
"Having Dave back with the code enforcement department is helping us greatly," he said. "Just even today, he handled every high weeds and grass complaint I got. I was able to handle much-needed animal investigations [and] property investigations."
Statistics presented during the meeting showed the volume of property-related issues facing the city. During the previous month, officials issued 57 quality-of-life tickets and handled 35 general complaints, with many involving high weeds and grass.
Four properties were also condemned, primarily because of sanitation-related issues.
Three More Properties Targeted for Demolition
Council also took another step toward removing blighted properties when it approved Resolution 167, authorizing the solicitation of bids for demolition work at three locations using Community Development Block Grant funding.The properties are located at 548 East Market Street, 608 West Norwegian Street and 313 South Second Street.
Officials described the East Market Street property as structurally unsound, with significant roof leaks and large trees contributing to damage.
The West Norwegian Street property has multiple property-maintenance code violations and includes a collapsing shed.
Officials said the South Second Street property will be a more complicated demolition because the brick structure is close to neighboring properties. Its deteriorating and leaking roof is also affecting adjacent property owners.
Smith also reported that the city recently completed the demolition of another blighted property on Race Street.
$296,000 Harrison Street Project Moving Forward
Another major project is expected to begin in late August or early September on Harrison Street.
City Administrator Rob Strabel said the approximately $296,000 project includes about $38,000 for demolition of a house and $258,000 for construction of a retaining wall."The demolition is going to start first, of course, but then we have to very quickly then look at the retaining walls so there's no erosion or nothing caves in in that area," Strabel said.
The retaining wall is intended to stabilize the area following demolition and prevent erosion.
City Turning Attention to 'Junk Cars'
The city's blight initiative will not be limited to deteriorating buildings.
Mayor Smith said officials are preparing to increase enforcement involving unlicensed and uninsured vehicles stored on private property.
The city has already begun addressing vehicles with expired registrations parked along public streets, but the mayor said the next phase will focus on vehicles being stored on residential properties.
Smith said such vehicles can undermine efforts by other residents to improve their neighborhoods.
"It's really a deterrent that neighborhoods [are] trying to rebuild and come back and having your next door neighbor with two junk cars in their yard," Smith said. "That's we're going to start hammering on that pretty soon."
The combination of additional personnel, outside assistance, increased follow-up and demolition projects represents a broader effort by the city administration to make property maintenance and blight removal a more consistent part of Pottsville's operations.