Amendments to current city ordinances in Romulus will provide building officials with another tool to control blight in the city, according to Director of Building and Safety Robert McCreight.
Following discussion of the changes in language, the first reading of the changes to the ordinances was approved unanimously, although Councilwoman Virginia Williams initially told the council members during the recent Zoom meeting that she opposed the changes based on a “lack of information.”
The new language would allow a city building official, with permission from McCreight, to issue a misdemeanor violation to those in violation of city building ordinances, rather than first issuing two citations. The misdemeanor ticket would place the issue in the hands of the court, skipping the first two citations.
MCreight told the council in response to questions from Williams that the modifications were an effort to “make all the language in the ordinances the same” as some now contain conflicting language.
Williams insisted that she had not had the total information presented to accept the first reading of the proposed changes.
“I can't get with this one,” she said.
McCreight explained that the new language does not change the jurisdiction of the building department, only allows them more discretion in controlling situations that could be detrimental to the community more expeditiously.
“Previously, we had to write two misdemeanor citations for violations,” he said. “These changes allow us now to write a civil infraction.” He said that then the violation would to into the court system for adjudication.
“Our guys will try to work with property owners before any infraction. We have hardship cases right now, people who have had COVID or lost jobs. Obviously, we are going to work with them,” he said.
Williams said she was shocked that the proposed changes came back to council with “all these parts of the ordinance” changed.
McCreight again explained that this was an effort to reconcile the language in the ordinance section so that there were no conflicting statements.
Councilwoman Eva Webb was appreciative of McCreight's efforts to answer questions council members had posed during the previous study session.
“You broke our concerns down section by section,” she said.
Councilman William Wadsworth said he felt the changes were an “excellent tool to help clean up our city. It is my understanding that if the misdemeanor ticket is written and the owner takes care of the problem before they go to court, it is dropped?”
Following McCreight's assurance that this was the procedure, the first reading of the amendments was approved by a unanimous vote. The second reading of the new language is set for the Dec. 28 meeting of the city council.
