At the Aug. 10 meeting of the Fayetteville Village Board, about 15 residents of the Fayetteville Pine Apartments on Warren Street were present to address a growing issue in their dwellings — mold.
According to Mayor Mark Olson, a resident of the apartment complex contacted him about the possibility of mold growing in her apartment. Olson said he then alerted the village code inspector Richard Greene about the issue but, under current village law, Greene is only able to do exterior inspections at rental properties within the village.
Greene said he invited the tenants to come to the village board meeting on Aug. 10 and the matter was on the agenda.
Joseph Grubner, one of the owners of the complex, was present to hear these complaints and said the reason they may have not been addressed was because the maintenance staff was going through a change-up in employment and may have missed some complaints in the past few months. He said he has created an email address and phone number for the on-site maintenance worker so residents can have better access to the workers if a problem occurs.
Greene said he also had not received any complaints about the mold in writing, and was not able handle the issue as he normally would.
“If they [tenants] put it in writing to us, then I refer them to the county health department because it is a health issue that the county can look into. Then I ask the tenants to let me know when their inspection takes place, then I have to F.O.I.L. the county’s findings,” said Greene. “It’s not an easy process but we do our best to follow up on these issues.”
Greene passed out complaint forms at the meeting to the tenants to so he can look into any problems they may be having and point them in the right direction.
In 2012, a drafted local law was introduced that would allow the village to keep track of rental apartments and have allowed interior inspections like this, but was not passed because it didn’t receive the full support of the voters, said Olson.
The renters’ law that was introduced three years ago included a rental registration and inspection law that would require landlords to register rental properties and allow regular inspections and a law that would allow the village to cite disruptive tenants.
Olson said he would like to reintroduce a local law of this type in Fayetteville because it would allow the village to be able to assist in situations like the current one at the Fayetteville Pine Apartments with interior inspections.
“It goes both ways, it would give protection to both the tenants of rental properties and the landlords,” said Olson. “The big things are the safety of the residents, the safety of our first responders and the general quality of life when people are not taking care of properties.”
Olson said he plans to try to reintroduce the renters’ law later this year because other municipalities, such as East Syracuse, Minoa and the city of Syracuse, have seen the benefits of having a renters’ law in place.
Residents who have complaints about properties in the village can find complaint forms at the village office at 425 E. Genesee St. in Fayetteville, or online at fayettevilleny.gov.
Hayleigh Gowans is a reporter for the Eagle Bulletin. She can be reached at [email protected].
