The Village of Manorhaven issued five times the number of code violations under Mayor Jim Avena from October to December as it did during the same period last year under the previous administration.
The village issued 106 code violations in the three-month period this year, compared with 20 for the period last year, according to the Village Court.
Avena, who made improving the quality of life in Manorhaven a central point of his campaign, said he now receives fewer complaints about problems in the village than when he first took office.
“It’s about the overall quality of life in Manorhaven being improved,” said Avena, who took office in July. “When I first got in office, I was getting a lot of calls about problems around the village, so we beefed up the code enforcement in the village, and now I’m receiving a lot less. People in the village say we’re doing a good job with it.”
The violations issued by the current administration range from grass exceeding the village code’s length and snow or ice on the sidewalk to a broken curb and workers disobeying a stop-work order.
The village also hired a part-time code enforcer to assist the village’s code enforcer, Kareem Buckley.
The village received complaints about broken and cracked sidewalks, and issued over 100 Order to Remedy violations to residents, Donald Badaczewski, the village court clerk, said.
The village also waived the fees for the permits required to fix the sidewalks, Badaczewski said, and over 50 of the violations have been resolved.
The permit fees are normally $100.
“We’re trying to work with the residents,” Badaczewski said. “Our objective is to get things in better shape and clean up the village, and we’re trying to do this in a orderly basis and we’re happy the residents are responding well to it.”
If a resident fails to remedy the problem after being issued a violation, the village issues a ticket and the resident must appear in Village Court, Badaczewski said.
Although the workload for some village employees has slightly increased, Avena said, it has resulted in a well-run village.
During the start of the village’s alternate-side parking regulations, which take effect from December to March from 3 to 10 p.m., village employees placed notes on car windows to remind residents.
“The whole purpose of alternate street parking is to make sure the streets are safe when it snows,” Badaczewski said.
After a few days of warning residents, the village wrote over 120 tickets.
“We’re writing the tickets, but we also want to have the right balance, too,” Badaczewski said. “We wrote no tickets around the holidays and accommodated people who had guests over at their houses.”
Although the village has issued more violations, Badaczewski said, it hasn’t cost the village more money for administration.
“These things are working,” Avena said. “We’re pleased with the results and appreciate the residents are cooperating.”
