by Kristina Gabalski
Brockport Zoning Code Enforcement Officer Scott Zarnstorff calls the growing number of abandoned homes in the village “a phenomenon that has occurred rapidly in the past year or so.”
Zarnstorff discussed the problem during his report at the regular meeting of the Brockport Village Board May 22.
He said the number of abandoned properties in the village has grown to 20. “It has a significant impact on the community and residents and the codes officer has to be involved with it significantly,” Zarnstorff said.
He explained that some of the properties are being maintained and some are not.
“How do we deal with these and how do we address them so we don’t see more?” Zarnstorff asked the board. “They’re all over the village.”
During his report, Police Chief Daniel Varrenti called the problem of abandoned properties, “clearly a law enforcement issue.”
He explained that when the properties are broken into or when squatters come in and live in a house, police cannot do anything because when there is no home-owner who can make a deposition, there is no crime.
Chief Dan Varrenti proposed the village adopt the properties through the legal process, “Then we have a victim and can go after a perpetrator,” he said.
But village attorney Robert Leni told Varrenti acquiring the properties would involve Monroe County going through the process of a tax foreclosure. “It isn’t really a possibility,” Leni said of acquiring the abandoned properties.
Leni said the village does collect taxes on the properties because it is reimbursed by the county for any unpaid taxes.
“It’s a problem in many municipalities,” Leni said. “We have to make sure (abandoned) properties are reduced and addressed. There should be an up-to-date list with code violations.”
If the properties are unsafe, the village might have to take legal action to make sure all owners are held responsible, Leni said. “We have to make all efforts to make legal action a last resort.”
Varrenti told Leni, “I don’t believe in can’t. If you don’t do something (and someone is injured at an abandoned property) the village is going to be sued or somehow held responsible.”
Mayor Connie Castaneda asked Code Enforcement Officer Scott Zarnstorff to provide the village with a list of abandoned properties.
In other business on May 22, the village board voted unanimously to appoint Ann Draper as the new full time Deputy Clerk-Treasurer. She will begin her job after the start of the village’s new fiscal year, June 1.
The three final candidates for the job met with trustees at the May 8 village board meeting to give trustees a chance to meet and ask questions, Castaneda said.
Board members also renewed their contract with Harris, Chesworth, O’Brien, Johnstone and Welch, LLP for legal services. They requested that Robert Leni remain as the village attorney.
The vote was unanimously in favor.
Prior to the vote, Trustee Kent Blair stated that any legal services outside the village cap “need board approval. We need to stick to the language of that contract.”
Castaneda thanked Blair for supporting efforts she has made to remind department heads not to seek legal advice before obtaining board approval.
“It’s up to the board to begin the process,” she said.
