Last month, during his quarterly report to Borough Council, Borough Manager Sean Metrick shared an update on his stated performance goals – one of which happens to be: get the Building and Housing Department in order. The Department, which has been without a permanent director since February, is well behind in its duties to inspect the Borough’s 4,290 apartments and rentals.
According to its own FAQ, properties are supposed to be inspected once a year. Yet, 15 percent or 760 rentals have not had a visit from the Borough in more than two years. Not only is that a health and safety issue, it’s a financial one with more than $75,000 due in outstanding rental fees at the beginning of the year.
Well, that, Mr. Metrick hopes, is the past. He started with some good news. After a year of turnover, the department is now nearly fully staffed – it is still under the direction of interim director Ramsey Reiner, but I hear a permanent hire could soon be in the works. Now, the big dig (out) can begin.
According to the report, the B&H Department is staffed with two code enforcement officers and two building inspectors. The Borough also continues to employ a third-party inspection agency. The rental officers, as well as the third-party inspectors, have been tasked with tackling those 760 overdue inspections, starting with the oldest first. The first goal is to get all properties on a two-year inspection cycle and then to start speeding it up to an 18-month cycle. They may also want to add, ‘update the FAQ’ to the list. Right now, yearly inspections don’t sound like a realistic expectation.
Speaking of expectations, Code Enforcement Officers will need to conduct at least 10 hours a week of routine enforcement and respond to property complaints within two business days. This is in addition to helping the inspection team get those properties up to date.
Mr. Metrick also promised monthly reports on all active land development plans “so that Council and the public can be aware of pending neighborhood change and construction impacts.”
To make sure goals are reached, the Department has been meeting daily and has been given until the end of June to achieve the above goals. Now, I guess, we just wait for that mid-year progress report.
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