City Code Enforcement Looks To Get Health Dept. Involved In House Inspection
City Code Enforcement Looks To Get Health Dept. Involved In House Inspection
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
City Code Enforcement Looks To Get Health Dept. Involved In House InspectionTwo side-by-side East Jefferson Street properties, owned by the same management company, went before the city’s Code Enforcement hearing officer Tuesday, but the owners failed to appear.
Now the Kosciusko County Health Department will be asked to inspect one of the homes.
The properties are at 2231 and 2233 E. Jefferson St., Warsaw, and the respondent is listed as Mishmeret Management LP.
Building Commissioner Ray Behling told Hearing Officer Tom Earhart that, “We were out to that property almost three years ago. It began when the ceiling fell in, and we got a complaint about the property and we went out.”
He said they took a look at it, and said the fireplace was removed as was the chimney on the outside. It was never resided or fixed on the outside, but Behling said he believed the interior was completed. Since the outside was never finished, it’s been exposed to the weather for the last 2.5 years.
“We also have issues to the property next door as far as trash and debris,” Behling said.
Earhart asked Behling if the owners were notified of Tuesday’s hearing. Behling said they were mailed a notice and it was posted on the doors.
Both properties are occupied, Behling said, and they are rental properties.
“We were not able to get a response from him. We wanted to see about imposing a civil penalty fine,” he said.
Dana Hewitt, code enforcement officer, said the only address they had for Mishmeret Management LP was a post office box at the UPS store.
“If I’m not mistaken, our administrative assistant did make a phone call a few weeks back and, I think, made contact with him to inform him that we wanted to get in and do an inspection and take a look, but never followed up with a time and date for that, so we subsequently put him on the docket for the hearing and letters started going out,” Hewitt said, saying he personally put letters on the property to notify Mishmeret Management LP of the hearing.
Earhart asked if they knew who was behind Mishmeret Management LP. The only name Hewitt could find was a “Lane” with a possibility of the last name being “Lingofelter,” though the handwriting isn’t clear.
Earhart asked if the case had been pending since 2017. Hewitt said no follow-up had been scheduled back when the owner was told the siding needed to be completed. Recently, he received complaints about 2233 E. Jefferson St. about general and environmental nuisances from neighbors.
“When I go out there, there’s a substantial amount of trash on the property. They leave their trash out in bags, and then something will open it up and drag it around the yard. It’s usually left that way for a while. I did make contact with the renters to discuss that with them, and they said they’ll keep it clean. But I know I’ve been there three or four times over the past two years for complaints,” Hewitt said.
While the house at 2233 has the trash issue, the house at 2231 has the siding issue, he said.
Earhart asked if the 2231 property was habitable. Behling responded, “For us to make a determination, we need to go in and take a look and see if the water is getting into the house through that open area. If it has, it could be creating mold, and then we would need the Health Department to look into that. It probably wouldn’t be habitable if that’s the case, but we haven’t been able to get inside.”
Earhart asked if they could have the Health Department get involved and do an inspection. Behling said they will set that up with the Health Department and the owner, if they can get the owner to respond. Earhart said if the owner doesn’t respond, they should try to get a court order to do an inspection.
The case was continued to 10 a.m. April 14.
Four other cases also were continued to the April meeting for follow-up after discussion. Those include:
• Little Crow Lofts, 201 S. Detroit St.
Little Crow Lofts has been before the city’s code enforcement hearing officer for the past several months about various interior and exterior violations, the last time in January.
Julie McCartney, regional property manager for Commonwealth, the owner of the property, said Tuesday, “We are still planning with moving forward with what we reported the last time, with ceiling, the brick on the exterior. I also presented you with the product that we would be using, along with the specs. Weatherwise, we’re still not in a good window to complete those. So I do need some consistent warmer temperatures and definitely no rain. I would suspect we’re getting closer.”
Behling told her she reported the ceilings were completed, but “we’ve had some tenants saying there was still some debris falling and some of the units were only half done.” She said the tenants she spoke to were “satisfied” and she’s not seeing any issues.
As for a complaint about an elevator, she said the elevator is “fine.”
• Jason and Bobby Wade, 1015 E. Main St.
An order to demolish the home was vacated in January, but then a new order to demolish it was made by Earhart.
The Health Department issued a condemnation order for the property on Sept. 25 for want of repair, filth, no water and unsecured dwelling. The property has been before code enforcement almost every month since then, with Bobby Wade only showing up at January’s meeting.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Hewitt reported, “I’m pleased to report that I was contacted by a local realtor here in Warsaw that made an offer to the Wades and they accepted that offer for the realtor to purchase the house for a client of theirs.”
If everything goes as planned, the realtor will take ownership of the house on March 12. The realtor contacted Hewitt about the demolition order in place, and he advised the realtor that “we’ll suspend the demolition order to allow the new owners time to clean out and repair the house.”
Earhart put the case on the April 14 docket so as to not lose track of the property’s status.
• Hari Om, 3521 Lake City Hwy.
The Economy Lodge, 3521 Lake City Highway, owned by Jay Patel, had damage to the roof by a storm in 2019, which resulted in water and other damage inside the hotel.
Cole Kline, public adjuster with Hope Public Adjusters, representing Patel with his insurance claim on the property, said the roof was completed. “Currently, what we’re waiting on, is the appraisal process to finish up. It’s an insurance appraisal so a little different than a real estate appraisal. Basically, it’s an informal dispute resolution method as outlined in the insurance policy.”
He could not give a timeline for it to be completed, so Earhart put it on the April 14 docket for follow-up discussion.
• David Decker, 509 N. Columbia St.
Tuesday’s hearing was the first time the property came before Earhart. Behling said, “This was a property that we initially posted a stop work order. The owner did contact us, and we’ve been able to get permits issued, and we’ve done some inspections on the foundation. We just recently inspected the electrical service. After it was inspected in November, it was turned down, reinspected, March 6 it was approved and called in to NIPSCO.”
Decker said NIPSCO has to send in an inspector for certification and an assessment on the cost for a line. He wasn’t sure on NIPSCO’s timeline.
Earhart rescheduled Decker to the April meeting to see what progress was made by then.
