This Area under Development -- This weekend 11/5 - 11/6
"People Before Politics." -- "Your Rights Make A Difference."
"Of the People ... By the People ... For the People."
Draft – Local Legislation, Resolution & Ethics Reform * Motion for Proposal *
Fair Representation Through Community Involvement Sept. / Oct. 2016
“Save Our Homes Toolbox Rescue & Renewal Program” ** URGENT **
Objective: Examination, Revision &/or elimination of proposed or existing, strict,
punitive, unfair or aggressive Local Code Enforcement Ordinances /
Regulations; by comparisons / distinctions with NYS Requirements.
In Development; Property Tax Payment Plan Option. (Stuben Cty.)
Introduction: This must be done for several essential and important reasons.
- Fact – Our local economy, including homeowners and business interests
1. Have been disproportionately burdened and adversely impacted with among
the highest property tax rates and among the lowest average earned family
income for many years, without any practical solutions or remedies in sight;
In comparison to sixty-two counties in NYS, and the entire United States.
The current administration, under Mayor Judy Lynch and Trustee Randy
Shayler, still remain with ineffective policy guesswork and experimentation,
dipping political fishing rods into uncertainty, in their attempts to find answers
for working class residents, or people experiencing various difficulties, fixed
income or economic hardship. This includes families with children, the elderly,
military veterans, physically disabled, handicapped or with medical limitations.
- The current administration has no plans, consideration or intention to help or
2. Assist the common concerns or needs of people facing mitigating problems.
This comes at great expense for most, facing consequences of failed policy.
Without empathy, compassion or basic human decency, as to why there may
be perfectly understandable reasons or circumstances beyond any person’s
control, both Judy Lynch and Randy Shayler have egregiously labeled people
“Deadbeats” – who cannot immediately afford costly home repairs, expensive
contractor work, unfairly punitive and aggressive code enforcement violations,
fines of $1000 per day and/ or up to a year in prison. If any person wishes to
contest their violations, legal and attorney fees cost approximately $250 per
hour, with additional court clerk and appearance fees – That is; If you can
find a lawyer in this county who will represent your legal rights to
challenge Vs. a local municipality. My experience found several
instances of a common cited ‘Conflict of Interest’ reluctance to
take cases, which may ‘jeopardize’ their established practice.
“Save Our Homes Toolbox Rescue & Renewal Program” Page 2 of ____
3. The last time I was in the Village Code Enforcement Office, I observed in awe, stacks
of documents piled on the desk. Regardless of how many cases of violations they have
processed or are processing, generally speaking, the majority of people affected by the
questionable, controversial code enforcement policy, whether current, planned or soon
to be proposed – This is definitely the wrong approach. The arising risk or jeopardy of
losing your home under these insurmountable, untenable circumstances is alarming,
appalling, unacceptable and unconscionable. This is what happens or results when
apathetic, uncaring, indifferent politicians conduct ‘business as usual’ by methods of
arbitrary policy and decision making – lacking empathy, compassion or accountability.
I refer to this; a severe disconnect to the community, by practice of a “Lockout Process”.
This governing method is authoritarian; not humanitarian. It’s inexcusable, indefensible.
While in certain cases (involving commercial or residential investment properties), there
may exist criminality aspects – generally speaking, code enforcement violations occurring
in our community involve residential family styled homes. They are legally defined as civil
offenses; not crimes. People should not lose their homes or be jailed, due to any disparity
being economically disadvantaged, with an inability to instantaneously address violations.
It must stop; Forthwith & Immediately*. I have a better plan to address this issue. (Item 9.)
In Part; If existing laws lack the merits of allowing flexibility or a ‘Mitigating Circumstances
Stipulation Adjustment’, then responsible representation by local public officials
genuinely motivated to serve this community with best intentions – should exert every effort
in their elected duty and obligation, by protecting / defending people’s homes whenever
possible. If that means filing legal petitions or writing letters to amend legislation at the state
level, then that is what needs to be done. Otherwise, draft a local plan to achieve better results.
4. The current administration’s flawed argument: (Blight, Safety, beautification reasons)
They want to increase area values for higher property tax assessments. One problem with
this, is that our local assessments are already excessive in an increasing number of cases.
Homeowners often face little recourse other than attending a Grievance Committee Hearing
held in May, to contest discrepancies and substantiate reductions. I’ve found the Grievance
Committee to be helpful and understanding towards people – however, they are not part of
the village administration. The village property tax assessor’s office needs improvements,
but that is for a different discussion. In any case, a number of people may be unfamiliar with
or how to contest property tax assessments. They can do some time consuming research,
or attempt to find affordable legal representation. It depends upon your particular situation.
Aside from problematic property tax assessments; code enforcement violations and home
repairs should be reasonably addressed. I understand the necessity of safety concerns as
well as ‘blight and beautification’ issues; but not to any degree that a person should unfairly
lose their home due to costly fixes, compounded by various reasons of economic hardship.
5. Their Plan and Intentions: To increase / aggressively issue code enforcement violations,
without regard to circumstances of the homeowner – To arbitrarily meet an agenda / quota.
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6. What they are Not telling you: The current Mayor Judy Lynch and Trustee Shayler
have similar plans – Aggressive code enforcement, akin and likened to a bulldozer. If
re-elected, they will both forge ahead, unchecked – Leaving the homeowner with very
few options. All presumed costly, if the violations are numerous, significant or serious.
You should be acutely aware of the consequences for non-compliance in the mandated
30-Day period, as a matter of law. If violations remain uncorrected or unaddressed and
the homeowner does not file legal paperwork to either request an extension of time, or
to contest such violations – fines will accumulate, penalty of imprisonment exists and a
consequential legality loss of your home is probable to occur. They may work with you
at their cooperative discretion or case by case judgment – however, as a homeowner,
would you wish to be at the mercy of such an aggressive, unpredictable administration?
7. The Consequences: If the matter proceeds to this point, and/ or you do not have the
financial means or resources to handle the violation fines, contractor repair costs, other
legal permit restrictions for required insurance coverage, or legal counsel representation
fees, chances are this aggressively efficient administration will seize your home by legal
action(s). I can assure you, this isn’t random speculation or something to be taken lightly.
What is likely to happen next – You or your family are evicted, dispossessed, displaced
by court order and sheriff enforcement. There is no administrative policy to relocate you.
They do not have that obligation or responsibility. Your situation will be dire, forced to
move, or find urgent storage arrangements. This current administration will repeat this
process arbitrarily, with different people, simply because they have and will use their
public authority to do so. What happens to your home afterward? A good question.
If your home is legally seized and retitled as a village custodial possession, they have
no legal obligation to conduct repairs associated with your original code enforcement
violations. It will probably be resold at auction or by some other administrative process.
Due to the fact that our community / village is in a state of relative, economic decline
instead of stability and growth (local jobs loss, increasing number of houses for sale),
more people wish to leave than remain here for any number of reasons – your home
may sit idle, unpurchased for an indeterminate time period, due to a slow turnover of
people willing to buy houses here. When the house is finally resold, who knows how
the proceeds will be spent, or what the village administration will do with those funds.
This approach by the current administration is egregious and flawed. The homeowner
loses the family home. If it isn’t resold in short order, this aggressive code enforcement
method, heralded, perpetuated and misrepresented by this administration, will in fact
reduce the annual tax rolls of taxable property revenue, at the alarming average rate
of approximately $5,000 per house. If the village code enforcement seizes just fifty-(50)
houses by legal action (vacant homes do not pay property taxes), it will develop into an
unprecedented loss of $250,000 in taxable revenue. Is this situation realistic? $250,000
represents 3% of the total budget, enough to give paid stipends to our EMS/ Fire Depts.
With many families and individuals living from paycheck to paycheck and/ or earning
minimum wages, the unfathomable aspect of any municipal administration exercising
arbitrary and aggressive code enforcement policies is a disaster waiting to happen, with
irreparable damage and horrific impact, which places working class families in jeopardy.
This also does equal damage to anyone with hardships and depletes our annual budget.
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8. Conclusion for this section: This aggressive code enforcement plan is scavenger like
in nature, unfair, strict, excessive, punitive and heartless. A complete disconnect from our
community and the economic hardships many people who live here, struggle to deal with
on a daily basis. The short term consequences will surely disenfranchise families or affect
people who already have difficult situations. The medium to long term impact for the well-
being of this community’s annual fiscal budget, reserves and home loss, can realistically
be forecasted as potentially devastating. Mayor Lynch has experience, Trustee Shayler
is also experienced, has an MBA. Has either of them looked ahead far enough, where the
pursuit of such an aggressive code enforcement policy would be detrimental to Wellsville?
Is this how we witness an administration mistreating people who have lived here for years,
or those who might consider living here, or buy a home here – are made to feel welcomed?
Absolutely not.
On Trustee Shayler’s campaign flyer, it clearly reads: “Hold Deadbeat Property Owners
Accountable.” …. “Tax Track Record.” …. “Every Legal Option.” – These public officials
have nearly identical plans and approaches. They both served in the same controversial,
questionable administration. They want to use ‘Every Legal Option.’ Translation: “Bullying”,
plain and simple. They should hold themselves Accountable* – for their own “Track Record.”
If elected, aggressive code enforcement would not happen on my watch. The consequences
of anyone losing their home under these circumstances is unfathomable. Any such method
leading to legal seizure should be a last resort – not ever a first option. Totally unacceptable.
I plan to utilize the addition of appointed associate board members, within our community,
who will also be granted authority to vote on community issues and policy. ‘The Wellsville
Citizens Council’. This represents reassurance to our community, that we will advocate for
Fair Treatment, when local policy decisions and adopted resolutions are crafted or enacted.
THE REVISED VERSION OF THIS HELPFUL PROPOSAL MADE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
