Code department needs overhaul

Code department needs overhaul

I was encouraged that Jason Dusenberry, a candidate for a 2-year Elgin City Council seat, has as a plank in his platform that addresses the city’s code department. Citizens have paid the price for unrealistic schemes to transform Elgin into Winnetka-on-the-Fox, so it is refreshing that someone proposes to address a grass-roots problem that directly affects the lives of Elginites and about which something realistically might be done.

My experience with the code department, on multiple occasions, is that it is dysfunctional, inconsistent, biased and unjust. Some years ago the city paid a $500,000 settlement related to actions of the code department and yet no lasting reform has taken place.

It’s time that the code department be thoroughly examined and restructured.

Kenneth W. Betz

Elgin