Towns teaming up to fight property code violations

North Aurora, Batavia and Geneva are planning to team up to deal with property complaints.

The three towns are working toward hiring a joint hearing officer to hold monthly hearings for some violations of building and municipal codes, such as junk cars or unkempt property.

Geneva now uses that process, but North Aurora and Batavia's code violations are handled through the county circuit clerk's office. Besides being time-consuming, the fines are split between towns and the county, said Sue McLaughlin, North Aurora village administrator.

This way the towns will have more leverage to work with residents as well, she said.

"The ultimate goal is compliance," she said. "I'd rather have a clean-looking house than a $50-a-day ticket."

So this summer the towns will combine all of their hearings into one night a month, splitting the cost of a hearing officer and a minutes clerk, a cost of about $350 each month.

Jerry Swanson, Batavia's community development director, said he expects about a half-dozen cases a month from the city. Several minor parking and alcohol violations will go before the hearing officer as well, he said.

The current system is expensive because the city has to have a prosecutor at each court hearing, which are often continued multiple times, he said.

"It's kind of a waste of money to have a lawyer to do these kinds of things," he said.

Plus, the hearing officer process is less formal and more convenient for people because it's at night, he said.

In Geneva, the city has seen more compliance as word gets out that the process is working quickly and in some cases assessing fines, said Building Commissioner Chuck Lencioni.

"It's worked proactively," he said. "And it has a much better success rate."