BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

MASSENA -- Town of Massena officials approved town code changes following a public hearing at the Aug. 21 town board meeting.

The move to update the town code comes as town officials seek to rectify a number of known issues around the town that they previously did not have authority to act on.

Supervisor Sue Bellor said the move to implement the code is also a requirement following the town's hiring of Code Enforcement Officer Pat O'Brien earlier this year.

Both O'Brien and Town Attorney Eric Gustafson said the amendments to the town code will allow O'Brien to enforce aspects of the code that previously "lacked a mechanism to do so."

One aspect of the amendments is to give the town code enforcement officer the authority to issue appearance tickets for violating town code related to brush and grass dumping in what Gustafson described as "uncontrolled private spots.

Gustafson also commented that the amendments would allow enforcement of code related to unsafe structures, fire prevention code, debris accumulation in streets that would be flammable and other "fairly routine stuff" that would be appropriate.

O'Brien said that ultimately the code amendments are designed to mirror village code regulations, saying the town "didn't really have mechanisms before this."

The changes could also be a cost saver for the town, O'Brien said.

While the village might have code in place to handle some situations with a fine through enforcement regulations, O'Brien said it could have cost the town thousands of dollars to correct code violations without those "mechanisms" in place.

“Something that in the village could be a $50 fine, it might cost the town thousands of dollars because we don’t have this in the code," he said.

O'Brien called the code amendments a "better use of taxpayer funds" than involving Gustafson to litigate issues.

“It’s going to involve a hearing with the state. So, it’s kind of a better use of taxpayer funds. It makes no sense to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees to recover a $100 fine because somebody won’t open up their yard or mow the lawn or simple stuff like that,” he said.

But what O'Brien sees on a day-to-day basis is usually "little stuff" that goes unaddressed, such as lawns that are not mowed in a timely manner or trash and debris being removed from properties.

"Most of these things, we work with people for quite a long period of time before we ever get to that point, and 90% of the people are awesome to deal with. It’s that 10%,” O’Brien said.

O'Brien said the town first seeks to work with individuals to rectify a code violation.

"We're not punitive by nature, that's not what we want to do. We want to work with people to assess and address a code violation, if possible," he said.

Both the town and village have also had significant issues for many months regarding unsafe structures, O'Brien said.

He told board members the town has two structures in particular that need to be dealt with but that they "lacked the mechanism to deal with them."

"The grass, the weeds, things like that. It allows us to kind of go after properties where people aren’t taking care of them. We’re certainly not nitpicking people over an inch or two of grass,” he said.

While some issues are obvious, O'Brien said the department still relies on individuals around the community to inform his office of potential code violations.

Since moving to a new, online reporting system O'Brien said he has been very busy handling complaints but noted that they are making "some progress" and that it was getting better.

One aspect of the new system that has greatly benefited the department is the requirement to leave contact information when filing a complaint.

O'Brien said the policy to not accept complaints sent anonymously has really help with time saving.

He said saving time on complaints has allowed him to search for answers on other calls, such as one house that was abandoned "for years and is in pretty horrible shape."

O'Brien said he has spent many hours on the situation, making phone calls, sending emails and letters in an effort to identify the owner.

”I sent letters to National Federal Mortgage, which is the current lien holder. At least that’s what the records show. But, it also takes a while for proper records to update. So, just because that’s what it shows right now in the system or with the county, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s who currently owns it," he said.

O'Brien said the adjacent property owners were "thrilled" to see code enforcement was looking into the situation and assessing the property.

"We should be able to start making some progress on that. It is getting better," he said.