By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Town of Davis has established an Enforcement Agency to oversee the maintenance of buildings in the Town. The Agency was established from an ordinance in 2018 to demolish unsafe and unsanitary structures within the Town, according to Mayor Al Tomson. “There’s a Town ordinance that goes back to 2018 and it provides for the vacating, closing and removal or demolition of buildings or structures that are unsafe, unsanitary, dangerous or detrimental to public safety and welfare,” Tomson said.
The three member group is made up of the Mayor, municipal engineer and a citizen of the Town, according to Tomson. “So basically, that code allows for an enforcement, basically a group of us, it would be an Enforcement Agency,” Tomson said. “The Enforcement Agency is made up of a principal three people: the mayor, the municipal engineer and a citizen at large that’s selected and serves at the pleasure of the mayor.”
Tomson said he has asked Tomson resident Pat Pregley to serve on the Agency as the Citizen at Large. “I’ve asked Pat Pregley to serve on that Enforcement Agency as the citizen representing the Town,” Tomson said. “And he’s agreed.”
Tomson said that the County Health Officer and the Town Fire Chief may also be involved with inspections of suspect buildings in the Town. “The other two people that can be involved in the inspections are the health officer for the County and also the Fire Chief,” Tomson said.
Notice will be given to property owners to obtain permission prior to inspections, according to Tomson. “There’s a number of things that have to be done as far as notice that would be given to the property owners so that we can get permission to inspect the buildings inside and out,” Tomson said.
Should permission not be given freely, Tomson said that the Agency can obtain an order through the Magistrate Court that would allow access to properties for inspections. “And if they don’t agree to that, there’s a process to go through the Magistrate and receive an order that basically would allow us to enter the building,” Tomson said.
Currently, there are five buildings in Davis that are under consideration by the Agency, according to Tomson with two on Thomas and three on Henry Avenue. “There are five buildings after driving around the Town that I feel fit into the category that need to be looked at,” Tomson said. “There are two on Thomas…There are three on Henry Avenue.”
The two properties on Thomas already have funding approved for removal, Tomson said. “Of the five, the two on Thomas already have funding that has been approved through a grant to do the asbestos abatement and the demolition,” Tomson said. “The other three on Henry, no action has been taken yet by anybody to deal with those buildings.”
Tomson said he had a subreciept that needed signed by a representative for the Town that would allow receipt of federal grant funds for demolition of the two Thomas properties. Tomson also said the properties have been fully inspected and completed all necessary checks for historical, environmental and ecological impacts prior to demolition. “For dilapidated buildings, finally we have movement,” Tomson said.
