SUNBURY — Mayor David Persing is threatening to make an end run around Councilman Joe Bartello to “aggressively address” code violation complaints of a residence on North 12th Street.

Bartello, who supervises the code enforcement department, says he’s moving on the violations, but they aren’t the worst.

Gene Swanger, of 124 N. 12th St., brought photos of alleged property violations to City Council on Aug. 23. They included messy porches, tall grass, piles of lumber and trash.

“A week later the pictures and the direction needed for the (code) office were not made clear to the employees of the department,” Persing said in a press release Monday.

“What is he doing with them?” he asked Tuesday.

Bartello said he has the pictures and is researching the owners of the property in preparation for mailing certified letters. He said he has to make sure the properties are not in foreclosure or the $5 letters go out for nothing.

Code enforcement officers Joe Swope and Mike Rhoads are busy inspecting rental properties and responding to other complaints, Bartello said.

Moreover, Bartello said, “There are a lot worse properties that need to be addressed. These are on the list and we’ll be getting to them.”

Swanger said Tuesday one property he mentioned, 1244 Highland Ave., was already cleared of trash and overgrowth, possibly by its owners.  

Persing said he expects Bartello to step up and do what the people elected him to do, “or I will ask council to create a part-time position to aggressively address the properties in question and put it under another department.”

Bartello wryly chuckled at that, and said he’d like to see what department head wants it in his budget.

“I always welcome qualified part-time help if we can get it,” he added.

Actually, Bartello said, “That’s the same thing I wanted to do in April.”

He said Persing rejected a candidate with bonafide credentials because the candidate was Bartello’s cousin, but the city hires relatives of officials all the time. Council agreed to pay $2,000 to the mayor’s in-laws who run a landscaping firm, just for advice on what flowers to plant around a sign, he said.

Meanwhile, Swanger said unkempt rental properties, with revolving-door tenants, are frustrating for homeowners.

At council, he said property next door to his, 120-122 N. 12th St., has garbage stored in the basement, according to the tenant, but code officers couldn’t inspect there because the door is padlocked.

Owner Bob McCallister said Tuesday the 120 N. 12th St. side was completely cleaned and the new tenant at 122 did say there was some trash downstairs. McCallister said he would look into it immediately.

The idea that a landlord would allow trash to be stored in a basement was “the silliest thing I ever heard,” McCallister said.

Bartello said if there was a question of what was behind a padlocked door during a rental inspection, code officers should look there.

“If that were the case (that they weren’t allowed to), everybody would be padlocking all the bad stuff,” he said.

Bartello said a bigger issue is, does our department issue rental permits to places that shouldn’t qualify?  He said he is finding bad recordkeeping and that is making it difficult to cross-check.

McCallister said that rental, one of 10 to 12 he owns, was renovated and is completely up to code.

“Absolutely code safe,” he said.

Bartello said Swope and Rhoads are not trained, for one thing, to do the kind of electrical inspections that should be called for. He said he would like to hire an independent company to do the inspections, one that does not have local loyalties.

Swanger said he had just walked down Market Street to South Front Street and saw many other properties that need cosmetic work — especially near the new riverfront development where the city wants to focus the attention of visitors.

“It doesn’t cost anything to mow the grass and trim the bushes,” he said.

At minimum, the city should attack the sanitation, rodent harborage and any unsafe conditions of various homes within the city’s neighborhoods, Persing said.

The city is more aggressive now that at any other time in its history in tearing down dilapidated properties and improving neighborhoods, Persing said.

“We must not allow our own code enforcement agency to slow us down,” he said.

Bartello said he wants to help people, not just issue fines. He said more people around town know what’s going on than the mayor thinks.

“And they know I’m available every Saturday at the Market House,” Bartello said.

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