Jerry Haeck discusses his concern with the Building Inspectors comment of a temporary fix at 222 West Jefferson Street

Thursday, May 16, 2024 at 3:57 PM

News

During the Privilege of the Floor portion of this week’s Plymouth Common Council meeting, Jerry Haeck came forward to discuss his rental property at 222 West LaPorte Street.

During the April 22nd meeting of the Board of Public Works and Safety, Dennis Manuwal the city’s Building Inspector discussed issues he was having with Mr. Haeck on the unsafe building order he issued on the property on February 1st because of concerns that the front porch was collapsing. Haeck refused the registered letter which gave him 30 days to comply. Haeck did call Manuwal and through email, he was given 60 days to fix the issue but at the April meeting, Manuwal said he still hasn’t complied.

The concrete front porch on the multi-residential structure is caving in and is unsafe for the residents living there.

The Plymouth City Attorney presented two options, the building commissioner could hire someone to complete the work and bill the owner for the work, or the Board of Public Works and Safety could impose a fine of up to $2,500 for non-compliance on the order already issued. In April the Board of Public Works imposed the fine but said the fine would be waived if Haeck complied within 30 days.

During Monday’s meeting, Jerry Haeck told the Board of Public Works that he poured a cap on the porch and used two and a half yards of concrete. He said Building Inspector Manuwal said the fix was temporary.

Mayor Listenberger told Mr. Haeck that he hadn’t seen the fix but he was willing to meet with Haeck and the Building Inspector to look at the repairs.

The city’s building inspector looked at the repairs and had concerns about what was under the porch. He said Haeck said there would not be any more settling. He told the Board that the porch was cracked when he purchased the property 17 years ago and, “I just never got around leveling it. It’s actually on grade, it’s elevated 4 rows of block up and they put earth inside.” He continued, “Ground settles and it doesn’t continue to settle forever. It does compact to enough that the slab there provides a base that I could pour on top of.”

Mayor Listenberger asked if Mr. Haeck had other rentals and he said five with 14 apartments in total. The mayor agreed to meet at the site and look at the repairs.