Date:    December 5, 2007

Place:         District Magistrate’s Office     
Project:       City of Bradford Master Plan
Client:         City of Bradford
Time:          9:30 am - 11:00 am           
MCF No.:    44506002

Attendees: 
Don Cercone, District Magistrate
Kathy Webster, District Magistrate’s Staff
Roberta Sarraf, Zoning/Planning Consultant
Albert Filoni, MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.
Ken Lee, MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.
Amy Maceyko, MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.

Purpose:    To discuss code enforcement issues in Bradford, as well as to gain an understanding of issues relating to crime and derelict properties in the city.

Items Discussed:

1. The planning team began by discussing the goals and the purpose of the master plan.  Studies in the past have focused on specific challenges instead of being a comprehensive plan for the whole Tuna Valley.  The goal of this process is to develop a series of actionable strategies that all three municipalities can endorse and to engage residents in the process so they will work together to improve the community after the planning process is over.  The planning team is meeting with as many groups as possible to understand the myriad of issues that affect all three municipalities and determine the best group of strategies for improving the quality of life in Bradford.  One of the recurring themes that has arisen since the process began in the fall is a concern about property maintenance and the “image” of Bradford given by derelict and unattractive housing.  The planning team has also a recurring negative attitude despite the many positive aspects of living in Bradford.

2. The primary reason to be here is to discuss action strategies that can be included in the master plan to improve property maintenance and the condition of properties in the Tuna Valley.  The planning team needs to understand the reality of the situations that are taking away from the quality of life in Bradford and understand what improvements are feasible, and if there are ways to limit the obstacles the city faces in trying to clean things up.

3. After describing the information that the planning team got from the code enforcement officers, Mr. Cercone stated that very few citations for long grass or snow-covered sidewalks come through his office.  The majority of citations that come from code enforcement are garbage citations.  Ms. Webster commented that last year there were only about 20 violations that weren’t garbage related from code enforcement.  In the case of garbage citations, the landlord is cited instead of the occupants and there is usually failure to pay for several months.

4. The order of action for a code enforcement citation is as follows:
    a. Citation is entered into the computer system
    b. A summons is sent
    c. Then a certified summons is sent
    d. Then a warrant is issued.

5. The planning team is looking for strategies and ideas to clean-up town and dealing with derelict properties.  Mr. Cercone commented that it isn’t difficult to identify the problem, but it can be a challenge to find the resources to fix them.
    a. In his experience, the problem includes the mixture of renters and owners, some residents who wouldn’t fix up their properties
        even if they had the money to do so, renters who don’t have the means to ask for better conditions from their landlords, a big
        drug problem in town and the portion of the population on welfare.  
    b. The quality requirements for rental housing aren’t high enough even when they are inspected.  There are too many landlords
        that do the bare minimum to maintain their property.  
    c. In Mr. Cercone’s experience fines don’t solve the problems.  If someone is fined they can pay as little as $20/month.
    d. When interest rates went down 10-15 years ago many of the best renters bought homes.
    e. Some landlords don’t use leases which makes tenants more temporary and puts the owner in a position of power
    f. The problems that they see aren’t usually with absentee landlords.  There are more issues with local landlords that buy
        properties at sheriff sale and with renters who move in, don’t pay rent for three months and then move out.
    g. Mr. Cercone stated that they haven’t seen a lot of problems with UPB students, but he acknowledged that some issues would
        go through Bradford Township given the location of the campus.  There are some fraternity houses on South Avenue.
    h. He also expressed concern about complacency in Bradford.  One example is the 21 policemen who serve 9,500 city residents
        and many people feel that there still isn’t good coverage.

6. Ms. Sarraf commented that solutions she has seen in other places involve counseling tenants that have been taken advantage of on their rights.  Also, housing court can allow disputes to be settled between renters and landlords while rent is paid into escrow accounts.  But this kind of change requires strong political will.

7. For context, Mr. Cercone lives in the city and Ms. Webster lives in Duke Center.  Both commented that people don’t feel safe or comfortable on Main Street.  The new mayor has talked about assigning a beat cop to that part of town. The issue in Veteran's Square is not about the past.  There isn't a history of violence there, but just a feeling.  A mixture of people spending time there and a friendly beat cop would help a lot.  Positive behavior is contagious.  Being vigilant about dealing with even small problems is important, too.

8. The solutions are simple.  Getting people to change is hard.

9. Mr. Cercone doesn't think the schools are as good as they should be considering how high the taxes are.

10. The Magistrates docket is about 3000 cases annually.  Getting people into the office can be an issue.  There are currently 300 warrants on file that haven't been served.  There are only 2 constables.

11. Mr. Cercone wonders if a city manager would be a better form of government to run Bradford.  Sometimes it feels like there is no one in charge.  The mayor and council members all have full time jobs and only meet twice a month.

12. There are residents who owe thousands of dollars in parking tickets and garbage ordinances, and they pay $25/month.  The jail is overcrowded, so they won't accept people for fine issues.  Truancy is also a problem that fines don't fix.

13. When there are outstanding fines related to a property there isn't any way to lien the property because of how the ordinance is written.  That process would move it up to a higher court.

14. The group discussed having the planning team meet with Mr. Cercone's son and his friends for another youth perspective during a future visit.

With no further items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned. The foregoing constitutes the major items accepted by the attendees.  If there are any additions or corrections to these minutes, please notify the Architect.

Respectfully submitted,

MacLachlan, Cornelius & Filoni, Inc.

Amy P. Maceyko, AIA, LEED AP