PROPERTY STANDARDS COMMITTEE WRESTLES WITH CODE ENFORCEMENT

When a landlord directs the finger of responsibility at the tenant and the tenant points back, who is ultimately in charge of cleaning up a mess while the argument continues?

That and other issues are what the minimum property standards review committee wrestled with Tuesday during its first meeting in the city council chambers.

The committee discussed at length the myriad of situations that the city is likely to deal with and attempted to come to a consensus.

Some believe the property owner is ultimately responsible. Others said it is the responsibility of the tenant to abide by the lease and then the responsibility of the landlord to enforce the lease or evict the tenant.

"The problem will exist as long as the tenant believes he will be able to get away with it," said Mayor Al Spradling III, who presided over the meeting. "You're going to get into a situation where landlords are kicking tenants out all of the time."

The minimum property standards review committee, comprised of a cross-section of citizens including landlords, tenants, a home owner and representatives of two organizations -- the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) -- has 60 days to produce a recommendation for the city council.

"What we have to keep in mind is that we're trying to produce a package that will help the city enforce a code of minimum property standards," said Rick Murray, supervisor of building inspectors for the city.

"We're going to have to realize, though, that this is not going to be a magic wand," said Murray. "There will be many instances where this code will not let us touch someone."

Said Charles Kupchella, who is representing the DNA, "I understand that this will not be a magic wand. But we need to set standards as a city. We have to have something, a statement, that says what those standards are and we need to enforce them."

The committee decided from the outset that the code of minimum property standards would pertain to residential, rental and commercial property in the city of Cape Girardeau.

Several items were addressed during the meeting, which lasted more than two-and-a-half hours. Among those was the issue of just what constituted a legitimate complaint and how the city inspector would police the complaint.

It was decided that all complaints must be in writing and should include the social security number of the person filing the complaint. "There could be cases where someone would be making a false complaint, so there should be something in the code to punish that person and protect the property owner," said Councilman Tom Neumeyer.

A complaint may be filed by a neighbor who lives within a 200-foot radius of the property in question.

The committee spent considerable time with language of the third version of the BOCA code, a document that was approved by the minimum property standard board of appeals.

One word that merited discussion was workmanship. "I've seen a situation where someone was using cardboard for heating duct work. The workmanship was very good, but the material was certainly not appropriate," said Murray.

It was decided that the building code inspector would be given the power to determine if appropriate material were being used.

Another issue was how a building code enforcer could get into a house to investigate a complaint without the permission of the property owner.

According to City Attorney Warren Wells, a search warrant can be obtained only with sworn testimony by the person making the complaint. "A search warrant is very hard to get," said Wells.