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New law gives towns like Yorkville more power to enforce building code violations · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: New law gives towns like Yorkville more power to enforce
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  Speaker 1: building code violations. Written by Joey Weslow, This article is
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  Speaker 1: being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Speaker 1: A new power granted by the state enables towns like
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  Speaker 1: Yorkville to speed up building code violations, including repairs that
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  Speaker 1: have been long neglected by property owners. The Yorkville City
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  Speaker 1: Council adopted the new ordinance during the March tenth meeting.
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  Speaker 1: The power was granted by a new state law, which
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  Speaker 1: became effective January first. The new law expanded the powers
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  Speaker 1: and duties of an administrative hearing officer. In the past,
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  Speaker 1: cities had to undergo several hearings and possibly circuit court
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  Speaker 1: dates before solutions could be explored for building code violations. Now,
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  Speaker 1: access to a property can be granted by a municipal
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  Speaker 1: hearing officer to the city to fix a building code
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  Speaker 1: issue after just one hearing. City Administrator bart Olson said
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  Speaker 1: the previous system was slow for things such as the
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  Speaker 1: city wanting access to repair a broken window that's been
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  Speaker 1: left neglected. Now, the city's hearing officer could tell a
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  Speaker 1: property owner at the first hearing that they have to
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  Speaker 1: fix the window by a certain date. Olson said, Otherwise,
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  Speaker 1: the find will be levied after the hearing and the
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  Speaker 1: city will be granted the ability to fix the issue
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  Speaker 1: and assess fines on the cost of the repair to
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  Speaker 1: the landowner. The hearing officer will be tasked with determining
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  Speaker 1: the validity of each possible code violation. Once a date
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  Speaker 1: is established for the property owner to comply, the officer
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  Speaker 1: may also authorize and direct the municipal body to take
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  Speaker 1: all necessary steps to remediate the violation if remediation has
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  Speaker 1: not occurred. According to city documents,