MARY CATHARINE MARTIN
THE DAILY IBERIAN

Who should you call if you spot an ostrich in your neighborhood? Or a house with an open, leaking sewage pipe? Or a junked car in the yard next to you, or grass that hasn’t been mowed in months, or an 18-wheeler tractor railer where it shouldn’t be? What if you suspect drug activity in an abandoned house?

While any number of agencies — from the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office to Public Works to Wastewater — may be involved, New Iberia’s compliance department has worked on all of the above issues and more.

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Though the city has been addressing problems like abandoned and dilapidated houses and junked cars for years, it was only at the start of the last fiscal year that it became an official department, and it was only within the past three or four years that all their services were concentrated into one office. Before, said city clerk Elmire Elledge, who spearheaded the department’s formation, people were spread out everywhere.

The Compliance Department is composed of three people doing the “day-to-day work” — Tim Vice, Lindsy Segura, and Rosalie “Rosie” Simon. Though they share duties on an as-needed basis, Lindsy is officially in charge of Districts 1, 3 and 6. Vice is in charge of districts 4, 2 and 5.

Compliance Director Tim Vice, who has been working on these issues for years, says these are “the most aggressive” four years that he can remember.

The numbers

The number of properties have increased. So far in 2008, the city has addressed or is addressing 76 properties around the city.

The city demolished six. Owners demolished 11 and remodeled and brought up to code 26. Eight were resolved without a council meeting.

There are 33 houses currently being processed.

In 2007, 41 houses were addressed. In 2006, 38 houses were addressed.

Rosalie “Rosie” Simon, who handles the books for the department, said in addition to the 76 currently being processed, there are 110 houses on the waiting list.

Over the past three to four years, Vice said they have addressed between 1,500 and 2,000 junked cars.

Vice and Segura said priorities are set many ways.

“In the beginning, the idea was ‘the house is empty. We can tear it down,’ ” said Vice. “It doesn’t go like that. Or, ‘that house has drug trafficking, we need to tear it down.’ It doesn’t work like that. You have to have a reason, you have to have an inspection done.”

Segura said she and Vice prioritize via personal visits to the area. They also incorporate calls from neighbors, district and the district’s council member’s priorities and proximity to schools, playgrounds and the homes of the elderly.

“We’re still kind of honing the process of exactly what properties we pick, but the main thing is public welfare,” said Vice. “Health, crime and things like that.”

Condemnation, said Vice, is handled via state law, which is what the department uses “from beginning to end.”

Elledge said Chapter 55 of the city’s code of ordinances, which is on the city’s Web site, is their “bible.”

The process

So what happens when a property is not in compliance with city codes?

First, the person who is listed as the property taxpayer is served with papers in the mail. The department tries twice; the post office makes three attempts for each of the department’s.

Next, if this is not successful, an independent attorney makes another attempt to serve the papers.

That’s all that’s required by law, said Vice. But the department uses other methods as well — recently reinstituting the use of large attention-getting signs saying “This building is scheduled for demolition by the city of New Iberia,” which Vice said is successful in notifying neighbors, who frequently contact the owners.

Vice and Segura also try to go into the neighborhoods and contact people. They place an advertisement in The Daily Iberian.

Once contact is made, they work to determine with the owner what the best course of action is for the property. Sometimes there’s a public hearing at the City Council meeting; after an initial hearing, buildings are revisited on an as-needed basis. Some property issues are resolved without a meeting.

“We go around and check on people (throughout the process),” Vice said. “The council constantly checks on people.”

Sometimes, he said, they’ve worked with people on bringing property up to code for two years — as long as the property owners are trying.

“Everything we do, we work with people,” said Vice. “Give people a chance. If they’re working on it, allow them to.”

Many of the buildings torn down, he said, were because owners did not work to address the problem.

“That’s our goal with the process, is to make them understand that we don’t want to tear that property down,” said Vice.

Sometimes investors, builders and contractors in town buy the properties and renovate them, putting them back into the city’s tax base.

This, said Mayor Hilda Curry, is something the city is interested in accomplishing itself, as well.

Future Plans

Curry said the city is working with the area’s legislative delegation to get a bill introduced in the next session to make it easier to take possession of adjudicated property.

Property adjudication is a process by which a judge determines property rights.

The city maintains abandoned houses by doing things like cutting grass, said Curry. These are placed on the property owner’s tax bill. But, said Curry, when taxes are not paid, the city absorbs the cost.

If a property owner does not pay taxes on a property for a period of three years, liens are placed against it and it is put up for sale by either the parish or the city.

Curry said if the city can take possession of adjudicated property, it can donate it to a nonprofit or fix it up and put it back into the tax base.

This might help recoup costs, as now, “There’s no way to break out even,” said Vice. “Just the demolition is more than the property’s worth in many cases.”

Ordinances are occasionally “tweaked” to make them more effective, such as increasing the fee for grass cutting from $25 to $75. Soon, said Vice, the city will consider changing the ordinance to allow access to the property to cut grass more often than every 30 days, which is the amount currently allowed. Thirty days, said Vice, is too infrequent.

Teamwork

“It takes a lot of people. It’s not a one person job,” said Vice of the department’s work.

The Community Networking Committee, which recently won an award from the Louisiana Municipal Association, brings heads of various departments and organizations together to solve problems, many of which are related to compliance.

This helps to expedite the process.

The compliance department, said Curry, is doing a “tremendous” job.

“You can definitely see a difference in the cleanliness of the city,” said Curry. “It’s an ongoing process that’s going to take quite some time because a lot of old buildings are in need of repair — and there are always issues of junked cars and high grass.”

She said she didn’t think the issues would ever be 100 percent resolved, but as time goes on, they will improve.

“We have gotten so many compliments from citizens concerning our efforts to clean up the city,” said Curry. “It helps to keep property value at an optimum, and it’s also contagious. When one property owner sees their next-door neighbor cleaning up, cutting grass, and maintaining their property it makes them more willing to take care of theirs. It’s a snowball effect.”

Curry attributes success, in part, to success. “I think because people know we’re serious about enforcing the ordinances,” she said, “they are taking care of their property. And if they get a letter, they’re more apt to move forward and take care of the problem because they know the city is going to enforce the ordinance.”