Question for the Mr. Swierz

[john r. swierz]

        The inspectors that work out of the Housing/Demolition Dept are Housing inspectors and there is also a housing officer

[Rick Rowlands]

OK thanks that clears that up.

[rusty river]

So what is the correct title for this inspector?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the man that visits your site is Tony. He works for the Public Works Dept. and makes sure new construction is in compliance with building codes and standards.

You can read more about his department here http://www.cityofyoungstownoh.com/city_hall/departments/building_inspection/inspection.aspx

The building inspectors that I am speaking about work for the Demolition/Housing Code Enforcement Dept. It is their responsibility to inspect homes for structural code violations and to enforce them. http://www.cityofyoungstownoh.com/city_hall/departments/demolition/demolition.aspx

[Rick Rowlands]

So what is the correct title for this inspector? 

[rusty river]

The city has a dedicated code enforcement officer on staff through (I believe) the county sheriff's department. If code violations result in an arrest, she is the one who makes it and follows up in court.

[jay]

I assume that these inspections often result with taking someone to court or to a hearing.  Is time spent in court counted as an inspection?

I know police officers also spend time in court which takes them away from patrolling our streets.

[rusty river]

Rick, the inspector that visits you only visits new construction sites. This is an entirely different department.

I am VERY familiar with the ENTIRE process, from the necessary paperwork all the way to demolitions, and it is not being done competently or effectively.

[rusty river]

Mr. Swierz, it is not enough to sit back and "hope" that city employees are competently performing the jobs that the voters and tax payers are paying them to do, ESPECIALLY with the budget issues the city faces.

Why doesn't council demand that there be more accountability for job performance of the city's employees? Why is it that building inspectors in Toledo can conduct 15 inspections a day, in a city with similar vacant and abandoned property issues as Youngstown, yet our inspectors can only muster 3

I know you've attended your fair share of community meetings throughout the years, and I'm certain that at every one of them the housing issue is arguably the number one concern expressed.

Blighted structures harbor and further perpetuate crime.
Blighted structures present a safety and health hazard.
Blighted structures drastically reduce property values.
Blighted structures prevent further investment into our city's housing stock.
Blighted structures prevent business development and investment.
Blighted structures deplete scarce city resources through city-paid demolitions and the deployment of our police and fire departments because of crime and arson.

The official policy of our building inspectors is to do NOTHING until they receive a complaint. By the time complaints are made, there is already a problem. It is reactionary. The point of code enforcement is to PREVENT blight. Unless the policies and procedures of this department are completely overhauled, it won't matter how many demolitions we do or how much NSP money we receive, because there is ZERO maintenance in our city's neighborhoods.

[Rick Rowlands]

Our one building inspector has been out to the Tod Engine Heritage Park twice to look at our work in progress. 

One thing to consider when comparing the number of inspections done is how many other jobs are the inspectors doing?  In Youngstown due to cuts in personnel the inspector is not only doing inspections but also doing a good bit of paperwork at City Hall.  Perhaps that workload in Cincinnati, Columbus or Toledo is being handled by assistants.  Cleveland and Youngstown have made cuts in City Hall and that increases the workload and as a result the number of inspections fall. 

My guess is that our one building inspector is already DOING HIS JOB, and perhaps the jobs of two or three other people as well. 

BTW, why should the building inspector have to inspect all 37,000 structures in Youngstown?  Do you even know what triggers a building inspection? DO you know how the process works?

[john r. swierz]

    I agree, its not a pretty picture. Money the ingredient that is missing to hire more inspectors. We must hen train them and equip them properly and hope that they do their job

[sfc_oliver]

Yet a few years ago my Dad was cited because of one downspout not being attached...

[rusty river]

The Plain Dealer recently published an article about the productivity of Cleveland's housing inspectors. The publication also surveyed the 7 other largest cities in Ohio (not including Akron). Guess which city is at the bottom of the barrel?

YOUNGSTOWN

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The Plain Dealer surveyed other urban areas* in Ohio to see how the productivity of their housing inspectors compares with their counterparts in Cleveland. Here are the findings, reported as average number of inspections per day.

Cleveland: 3

Cincinnati: 10 or 11

Columbus: 8 to 15

Dayton: 5 to 7

Elyria: 7 or 8**

Lorain: 8 to 10

Toledo: 15

Youngstown: 3

*Akron is not included because the city relies on Summit County for inspection services.

**Because of budget cuts, Elyria housing inspectors also handle commercial buildings.

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So at the current rate, it will take our city's 2 building inspectors (one just got laid off) nearly 26 years to inspect the over 37,000 structures in Youngstown just once.

Maybe before we talk about funding and personnel issues, someone should require our city's current building inspectors to DO THEIR JOBS.


http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/08/some_cleveland_housing_inspect.html

[john r. swierz]

        I can't remember one council member that didn't support the hiring of more Housing Insp.  All council could ever do was put the funding in place.  The hiring of personnel is the sole responsibility of the mayor. If they choose not to hire , thats it.  Council could then get into an adversial relationship with the mayor.  I have said this  for years,because of a lack of a good funding stream, government has "downsized its self to inefficiency" .  Code enforcement is one of the areas.

[rusty river]

Still waiting for a response....

[Mary_Krupa]

I have been saying for years that most of our city's problems stem from the fact that there is negligible code enforcement due to the lack of inspectors. Ungaro cut so many inspectors. There used to be around 26 now we have around 4. Unbelievable.