Spencer and Tracy Davis, owners of property at 1818 Reider St., received a 30-day extension from the city Monday at the Warsaw Code Enforcement Hearings.

"We've made some repairs, but it's come to a stop due to finances coming in," Tracy Davis said of the list of violation corrections.

"We've had the water heater replaced," Tracy Davis said. "We've just run out of funds right now."

"The water heater was the big issue," building inspector Pam Kennedy said.

The property has been vacant for 1-1/2 months. Tracy Davis was at the code enforcement hearings in April and was in the process of evicting her tenants.

"Today was her day for the $1,000 civil penalty," Kennedy said. "We haven't heard anything, so we brought her here."

But, Kennedy said, Tracy Davis did get the building permit immediately after April's code enforcement hearing.

"Since they did comply and not occupy the home, we'd rather see the money go into the house," Kennedy said of the $1,000 civil penalty imposed in April.

She also said it's a good house and the city is "in shortage of rentals" right now. The quicker Tracy Davis corrects the code violations, the sooner she will be able to rent the house out.

"You get two bites at the apple," hearing officer Lawrence Clifford said. "(That's) very unusual."

The city is giving Tracy a 30-day extension.

"Don't blow it," Clifford said.

The civil penalty of $1,000 will be extended until next month's code enforcement hearing.

"The money belongs to the city if you don't comply," Clifford said.

In other business:

• C. Douglas Kehler, 505 Alward St., also appeared before Clifford at the hearing.

"I plan to leave it vacant," Kehler said of his property.

He wants to use his property to store his wife's antiques, car parts and miscellaneous "stuff."

"Basically, I don't want to deal with renters anymore," Kehler said.

Kehler said he's been renting properties since 1973 and "this is the first time I've ever been called to a hearing."

He also apologized to the city of Warsaw for letting the code enforcement violations "hang" for a while. Kehler said he was dealing with a lot of personal problems and he put the violations "on the back burner."

"If I could get an extension on this, I would certainly get this done," Kehler said.

Clifford issued a $1,000 civil penalty postponed until Sept. 18. At that time, Kehler is supposed to come back to the code enforcement hearings and "report to me (Clifford) the progress."

Kehler also was asked to remove a live wire from his roof "immediately."

He said he would take care of the wire immediately after the hearing.

"I plan on this being my only trip," Kehler said.

"Well, I do too. But, it doesn't always work out that way," Clifford said. "Hopefully we won't see you on the 18th (July)."

"Take a good look because you won't see me again," Kehler said.

• Arthur and Tammy Gonzalaz, 219 S. Scott St., received a civil penalty for $1,000 postponed until July 31.

Kennedy said two major concerns were the roof and windows.

"They got the windows in the house," Kennedy said. "They were a little late, but we extended it because they were on order."

As for the roof, Kennedy said, the Gonzalazes did get an estimate for $16,000 "but couldn't afford it, so (they're going) to do it themselves."

Kennedy said the roof needs to be restructured.

"It'll probably take me a couple weeks, but I'm going to start early," Arthur Gonzalez said.

"Our concern is that rear-roof structurally," Kennedy said. "(And) we need an interior inspection."

Clifford ordered an interior inspection for 3:30 p.m. Monday.

"At that point, we'll know what's left on the list," Kennedy said.

Arthur Gonzalez said he also wants to fix up the garage.

"I would rather see the house in compliance than the garage right now," Kennedy said.

Kennedy said she wondered if they could really afford to do both right now.

"It might be wise just to think about demolishing it (garage) and building up a new one," Clifford said. "But let's not deal with that now."

Clifford ordered the roof to be completed by the end of July and all remaining "non-garage items" on the code violation list to be completed by Aug. 31.

Gonzalaz is scheduled to come back and speak with Clifford at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 21 "and we'll address where you are with everything at that point." [[In-content Ad]]