By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington aldermen want to raise fines for landlords whose apartment buildings are in disrepair, but city staffers don’t think hiring more inspectors are needed to enforce existing codes.
The city has two full-time inspectors, and Interim Community Development Director Bob Mahrt told the council it’s not necessary to hire additional staff.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott Laughlin’s interview with Bloomington Interim City Manager Steve Rasmussen on WJBC.
Alderman Amelia Buragas noted the vast majority of landlords want to comply with city codes, but she called for harsher penalties against a much smaller number of non-compliant property owners.
“They’re chronically non-compliant, and there I think as a city, our patience needs to run very thin, and can not be infinite because we have people in our community who are living in substandard conditions, and that’s just not acceptable,” said Buragas.
Alderman David Sage concurred with Buragas’ view.
“We ought to incentivize good landlords, and deal fairly directly with those chronically habitual offenders,” said Sage.
Living conditions in city dwellings are coming under heightened scrutiny after a fire last month destroyed 12 apartments on Gettysburg Dr. that had been cited for hundreds of violations.
The owner of the gutted complex faces hundreds of other violations at additional properties, including the 900 blocks of W. Front and Grove Streets.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected].
