Brockport landlord questions village practices

Brockport landlord questions village practices

Landlord George Brocious questioned Village of Brockport board members on what he called "selective code enforcement" at the May 7 board meeting. "I would ask the board to investigate the properties I've noted in the information I've given you. I've noted those properties that I believe are in violation of the village code of 'no more than three unrelated.' I think the village is selective in its enforcement of who and what to investigate," he said. He owns three rental properties in the village.

Brocious said he asked the village to sit down with him to discuss the violations he was charged with but he received no response to his request. "I'm perplexed as to why the village doesn't investigate the other violators if you don't practice selective enforcement," he said.

He pointed out that he had given village officials pages of information that he feels "blatantly advertise" rental properties that violate the village's code of three unrelated. "The information I've given shows wanton disregard for village code and the directed selective enforcement is targeted at me and my properties," he said.

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Mort Wexler said he was unable to respond to any of Brocious's comments because of litigation proceedings.

Following the meeting, Village Manager Ian Coyle said, "The accusation that somehow we selectively enforce our codes against a particular person or business is ridiculous. Many times, the enforcement of a code is initiated by a citizen complaint, so the community as a whole often provides the 'selection,' not our codes officer."

Coyle said the code enforcement officer investigates every complaint the village receives equally and across the board. "When we do proactively review properties in the village for code compliance, i.e. those enforcement proceedings not generated through a citizen complaint, there is never a deliberate or intentional plan to arbitrarily/selectively single out any specific person."

Village officials have taken Brocious to court two times because of code violations. The village was victorious in the first case, which is now on appeal. The second case was dismissed from the Sweden Town Court.

In other matters the board:

•Heard from Trustee Carrie Maziarz that the 25th annual CROP Walk was a success and brought in more than $10,000.

•Said the Stop sign on Brookdale Road was removed and that the police department is in the process of installing radar equipment to track the traffic and its speed on that stretch of road.