A special meeting of Bradford City Council was held Monday to
act on a financial matter, but the focus of the meeting quickly
turned to one of the city’s most controversial issues — code
enforcement.

The purpose of the meeting was to refinance a loan for the
Office of Economic and Community Development, as a balloon payment
of $137,000 was due. Council approved refinancing the loan.

During the part of the meeting where the council members present
any correspondence they have received, Councilman Ross Neidich
brought up the issue of code enforcement.

He told the other councilmen that they should have all received
a copy of a letter from code enforcement officer George Corignani
explaining an issue discussed at last Tuesday’s council meeting.
The issue was regarding fines against an unnamed landlord — which
The Era has learned is Edna Hallock.

At the last meeting, businessman and landlord John Kohler asked
about the fines levied against Hallock’s properties, saying the
total of the fines was $14,000. Neidich said that’s not the case;
the fines were $6,000. The total of $14,000 in fines included ones
levied against two other landlords as well as Hallock.

Corignani’s letter explains that a deal was made with Hallock
where the city “would get half of what we’re owed,” Neidich
recounted, “plus all 59 of her properties will be registered.”

Councilman Fred Proper, apparently referring to the letter,
explained that the city has given Hallock 30 days in which to pay
$25 to register each of her 59 properties that were not registered
— a total of $1,475.

“How long will it take code enforcement to inspect them?” Proper
asked. Neidich said Corignani has already completed seven
inspections. He said Corignani and Merle Silvis will be working on
the rest.

Neidich also mentioned that the city’s Board of Health is
pursuing between $60,000 and $100,000 in fines against Hallock as
well.

However, he explained, it remains to be seen how successful the
city would be in prosecuting her for the allegations. Hallock has
health issues which, Neidich reported, she had planned to use as
her defense in court for the cases in which code enforcement had
come to an agreement.

“Based on her health issues, the court could have thrown them
out altogether,” Neidich said of the cases against Hallock.

Neidich also mentioned that an issue of contention at the last
council meeting has been cleared up. Council members were concerned
that code enforcement was making agreements to reduce fines in
cases such as these, and that council was not involved. Now,
Neidich will meet each month with Corignani and Fire Chief Boo
Coder to talk about the cases pending in court and what would be
the best course of action.

Sara Andrews, executive director of the Office of Economic and
Community Development, mentioned that during the Master Plan
process, several city officials had met monthly to discuss code
enforcement. She recommended starting those meetings again, and
having new councilmen Jim Evans and Fred Proper attend to offer
input.

Mayor Tom Riel agreed, and volunteered his time to attend the
meetings as well.

“A few landlords are costing us a lot of money and resources,”
Andrews said. “We need to look at the severe repeat offenders. Is
there a way to cut them off from renting other properties?”

She asked if it would be possible to block the repeat offenders
from purchasing more real estate to rent out when they still owe
back taxes, fines and fees to the city. Andrews also asked if the
ordinances need to be made even stronger to curtail the
problems.

Solicitor Mark Hollenbeck said he feels the ordinances are
strong enough, and the issue lies more with enforcement. “That
ordinance has a lot of teeth in it,” he said.

Neidich said, “All you can do is take it before a judge. Then
it’s up to them.”

Before the meeting adjourned, Riel announced there would be a
work session at 6 p.m. June 22 with the Historical Architectural
Review Board, code enforcement and commercial building inspector
Mark Grassi.