Porter County will sink some teeth into its unsafe buildings and property maintenance ordinances with four property owners appearing before a hearing officer Thursday afternoon.
It’s part of a more aggressive approach to unsafe buildings and unkempt properties the county has been able to pursue thanks to a funding stream from such revenue as deck permits.
While the funding has been in place for two years, COVID-19 pandemic restrictions stymied the full scope of enforcement when public hearings for uncooperative property owners were put on hold during the height of the pandemic. Now hearings are being held, including one at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the commissioners chambers at the county building, 155 Indiana Ave., Valparaiso.
County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to pay nearly $25,000 for vendor The Junkluggers to clean up a property that has plagued the 100 block of County Road 250 West for many years. The removal of tree stumps and junk cars, among other items, will take seven to eight days and require the hauling away of 18 to 22 truckloads of debris, according to the vendor’s bid for the job. A lien will be placed on the property and moneys recouped when it is sold.
“They had until June 6th to clean it up and even as of today the property has not been brought up to our codes with a significant amount of debris in the four corners of the property,” said County Attorney Scott McClure, who told commissioners he has spent dozens of hours dealing with this specific property over the past seven years.
McClure said this is an extreme case. Most property owners comply with orders given by the unsafe buildings hearing officer. The process begins when a complaint is filed with the county about an unsafe or slovenly property. Porter County Code Enforcement Officer Joe Larr will then go to the address in person to investigate whether it’s a worthy complaint under Porter County’s Unified Development Ordinance.
If a violation is found Larr will try to make contact with the owner of the property and McClure will send formal notification explaining the requirements for the property. “It’s mostly maintenance, weeds, grass-cutting, things of that nature, old pools,” Larr said.
He said there are a variety of circumstances that lead to maintenance issues on a property. “Sometimes an inheritance, sometimes an elderly person just having trouble maintaining,” he said.
Other times a bank is holding a foreclosed property. “The bank will get their investment back one way or another, but they’re really not interested in maintaining the property,” Larr said of these circumstances that go bad.
Generally, 30 days are given to bring the property into compliance. Larr will then return to see if progress has been made. If it has, more time may be given to make further progress.
If the property owner has not cooperated they may be told to appear before the hearing officer, a retired judge, who hears cases roughly once a month. Judgments made by the hearing officer are binding and the officer has the authority to grant the county permission to take corrective action if the property owner does not. If this is done, as in the case on County Road 250 West, McClure will notify the property owner of the judgment and the next step is likely Superior Court for the placement of a lien on the property.
The Porter County Council, which holds the purse strings for county spending, told Bob Thompson, director of the Department of Development and Storm Water Management, which oversees code enforcement, that it would entertain the funding of a second code enforcement officer to help the county better maintain its standards.
“Me and Mike get sent a lot of pictures of people who have made complaints and nothing gets done,” said County Council President Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd District, at the June 28 county council meeting. “They seem to drag on.”
“I’ve been aware of a couple of cases for quite some time,” said County Council Vice President Mike Jessen, R-4th District. He referred to a case in Union Township he said was complicated to begin with, and then a bankruptcy was added to the mix. “Are we doing all we can?” he asked. “If that’s the best we can do, if that’s the best the county can do, that’s a problem. The poor neighbor next door can’t sell his house.”
“I would tell you the system the commission has set up now speeds things along quite a bit,” said Thompson. “That person that we’re going against also has rights and we need to make sure we don’t violate.”
Thompson said the county bore the cost of tearing down four buildings in 2021. The non-reverting fund also pays for the code enforcement officer, hearing officer, attorney fees, and court reporter costs.
County Council Member Mike Brickner, R-At-large, asked if county employees such as county police and highway workers might pitch in with reporting blighted areas. “That’s a great idea,” said McClure.
“Code enforcement is a quality-of-life issue,” said Brickner. “It is important to our residents. Some of the low-hanging fruit, I would like to see that taken care of.”
Though not implemented in every jurisdiction, Larr said every trustee also has the authority to hire a company to go out and mow a property if the owner does not respond to a written notice within five days, and then put a lien on the property to cover the cost. “Most people are compliant, once they realize they are not allowed to do what they are doing,” Larr said.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
