BOARD OF APPEALS REISSUES PROPOSAL REJECTED BY COUNCIL

The Cape Girardeau Board of Appeals Thursday refused to buckle before pressure from the city council to alter a proposed property maintenance code.

In a three-hour meeting, the board went through the measure item by item, essentially restoring the Building Officials and Code Administrators (BOCA) version of the code.

Earlier this month, appeals board members said the changes proposed by city council members so altered the measure that it would be worthless if adopted.

After Thursday's meeting, appeals board chairman Ralph Flori said that although the final recommendation is almost identical to the proposal rejected earlier, he hoped the council approves the code.

"I'd like to see it pass," Flori said. "They asked us for our recommendation and they rejected it.

"We've gone through this again, and we've done the best we can do. The city does need a code."

A group of downtown property owners calling themselves the Downtown Neighborhood Association also supports adoption of the more stringent BOCA version of the property maintenance code.

Tom Neumeyer, a spokesman for the group, said Thursday he appreciated the efforts of the board of appeals.

"They're going back to the original BOCA code as much as possible," Neumeyer said. "We think that's in the best interest of all the residents of the city in terms of health, safety and welfare."

Neumeyer said he also hopes the council passes the measure.

"We feel it's something that most of the people in the city want," he said. "We agree with Mr. Flori when he said earlier this month that as revised, the code was worthless.

"We also agree with (appeals board member Tony) Sebek, when he said he didn't think the version as amended by the council would stand up five minutes in court."

Thursday's meeting was quiet, with only six people -- all in favor of a strong property maintenance code -- in attendance.

But the debate over whether the city ought to adopt a property maintenance code has been waged between tenant and landlord groups for the past 1 1/2 years.

In July, the board of appeals recommended the city council adopt a slightly revised draft of the BOCA version of the code, which is aimed at ensuring maintenance of buildings in the city.

But city council members last month sent the measure back to the board with recommended revisions.

Some of the changes suggested by council members included: restricting the code only to rental properties, prohibiting housing code complaints from anyone not directly affected by the problem, removal of the lead-based paint section of the code, and removal of the hand rails and guard rails section.

The suggested changes also removed sections of the code related to a building inspector's right of entry onto a property, provisions for condemnation and demolition of properties, and the section of the code dealing with emergency provisions that would enable the inspector to prohibit occupancy in an unsafe building.

The board of appeals restored almost every section sacked by council members. Their recommendation now will go back to the city council. The measure is expected to be on the agenda for the council's Nov. 15 meeting.

One of the changes from the BOCA code that remained in the board's recommendation was a clause that makes complainants accountable.

The code will be enforced on a complaint basis, and the board recommended that any complaint be signed and detailed. The penalty for false complaints will be the same as for someone found guilty of violating the building maintenance code.

The board also lowered the minimum fine for violations -- either code violations or fraudulent complaints -- from $100 to $25. The maximum fine is $500 per day of infraction or per false complaint, and up to 90 days in jail.

Board member Ralph Maxton urged the board also to reinstate a paragraph setting out emergency provisions to secure unsafe properties.

Maxton said he was with a group from St. Louis that toured California after a large earthquake. The experience impressed on him the need for such a law.

"When the big one (earthquake) hits in Southeast Missouri, that section of the code is going to be the most important piece of legislation in the city," Maxton said. "I would say you're going to have a lot of jelly donut and coffee stains on that section of the code."