Last two buildings condemned.

Warsaw building inspector and assistant building commissioner Pam Kennedy condemned the last two buildings of Glen Terrace Apartments Wednesday.

Kennedy, fire safety inspector Michael Wilson, building commissioner Gene Oliver, city council representative Jeff Grose, representative from USDA Rural Development Dan Hughes and apartment owner John Call, Syracuse, met Wednesday to discuss plans for the 40-unit complex.

"This is a life safety issue. We need to correct it," said Wilson.

The complex also is without a manager.

"The city's turning into the management," Kennedy said.

Call terminated Sterling Management as manager and hired Steve Walters of Justice Management, Nappanee. Call said Walters has not yet been to the site.

Call said Wednesday he talked to tenants recently and told them not to pay rent if they are going to move, since they will need the money for new apartments.

"Most of them don't have much money," Call said. "They just are not braced for a move. It's terribly difficult (for them).

"I was embarrassed," Call said of the condition his apartments are in. "I don't disagree for a minute that there's a lot of problems out there. It looked like hell.

"I should've been over there more and I should have been on Sterling's back."

Call said the situation has been a disappointment, not only to the building department, but also to himself.

When asked for plans or drawings depicting work to be completed, Call replied: "No. There really won't be any drawings. What is there to draw?"

Oliver told Call the apartments are required to have one-hour fire separations between each unit, and written plans to correct the problem also are required.

"I don't have it done today," Call said.

He said he needs "another day and a half; by Friday" to come up with "concrete" plans, and he said he was first notified of the problems at Glen Terrace "way back in the spring - two or three months ago."

"The first notice of orders went out in December," Kennedy said.

Call did give a "wild guess" as to when a completion date for the code violation might be. He said it would be two to three weeks before he could start anything.

Kennedy said for the units "to be occupied, you (Call) will be fixing maintenance, too."

"Within two weeks from the time they (engineers) start, they oughtta have one building finished," Call said.

Call said he has contacted four contractors. Asked if he has one lined up, he replied: "No, not necessarily."

He said two of the four contractors he spoke to have been on the property and the remaining two have not.

Oliver told Call he needed a plan.

"And that is the bottom line," Oliver said. "Give us a plan."

Call said he realizes "the buck passes to me. In my own defense, I can say I didn't know, but the buck (still) passes to me. I've got a lot of hassles in my life."

"We've been more than gracious in giving you, the owner, many opportunities to come up with a deadline," Oliver said.

"We can't leave fire separation undone," Kennedy said. "We trusted you. We trusted Sterling Management. None of the violations have been corrected. We're just worried about the people."

"They're going to get caught in a fire or they're gong to have to move," Wilson said. "I, as fire inspector, do not want to see any possibilities of fire."

Wilson asked the building department to make the complex safe, even if it meant boarding up the units.

City councilman Jeff Grose said "at this point, I agree with Mike. I truly believe that the city has been more than fair."

Grose said he's received letters since January from people concerned about the situation.

"I feel really bad for these people," Grose said of the tenants.

Grose also told Call the "inaction was not on their (tenants) part, not on the residents, (but) on you."

"We're trying to encourage you (Call) to get things done and it just hasn't happened," Oliver said.

Call said he wasn't aware of the severity until last week.

"I can't believe that," Oliver said.

"You're wrong as hell," Call said. "Whether you believe it or not, I did not come to a complete realization of the situation until last week."

"We don't need excuses," Oliver said. "We need solutions."

"It's a very sad situation and I'm appalled that it's gone on this long," said Dan Hughes from USDA Rural Development.

Hughes said immediately following the meeting he would hand deliver a list of rental landlords in Kosciusko County to each tenant.

Kennedy said she has one landlord who is currently trying to place two people.

Grose also asked Call to clean up beer cans and cigarette butts which have been strewn about the vacant units, and to clean up trash and replace burned out light bulbs.

"Are we on the same page?" Grose asked Call and the building inspectors.

Oliver, Kennedy and Call all agreed.

"I think we are," Oliver said. "It's very basic, simple work that needs to be done."

But, Oliver said, the longer the problem is left undone, it just "keeps growing."

Oliver said they are "leaving it wide open for an engineer to correct the floor/ceiling one-hour (fire separation violation.)"

Grose said the city wants to help Call, they just "don't want to see those people (tenants) living in that situation."

And to get tenants out of the situation, immediate action is needed.

"What do you intend to do between now and Friday?" Oliver asked Call.

"My plan of action is to attack these things on the (code violation) list," Call said.

He said he planned to start Wednesday afternoon and "see what we can get done."

"This whole community is hurting and is going to keep hurting for months because we lost 40 units of subsidized housing," Kennedy said.

"By Friday, we want construction documents," Oliver said. "It's not a unique situation we have here. We just need a solution. We need that information."

"I know you do," Call said.

But at this point, Call said, "I don't have a concrete plan."

"I think you owe it to these people to have a plan," Hughes said.

Call said he will guarantee building inspectors "to be back here Friday" for the meeting planned at 9:30 a.m. "But, I can't guarantee what will be done by Friday.

"I'll do my best and I'll check back with them (building inspectors) Friday and let them know where I stand," Call said.

Kennedy said as of July 1, if the situation is not resolved, the city will continue to go to hearing every month until there's a solution. The hearing would enact a $1,000 civil penalty every month for each case not in compliance.

To be clear, Call asked what exactly the city wants from him.

Kennedy and Oliver said they need construction documents and a timeline stating start and finish dates for the work needed to comply with code violations.

"We went over all that at the hearing when you were there," Kennedy said. She also said that information is what they had hoped to receive from Call at the meeting Wednesday.

"We have staggered condemnation to prevent panic and give people a chance to find a place to live," Kennedy said.

"I'll either get it done or I won't," Call said of the violation corrections, "and I invite you to watch." [[In-content Ad]]