MOUNT VERNON — City officials plan to start cracking down on nuisance buildings that violate the local dangerous building code.

Safety-Service Director Dave Glass said the dilapidated buildings commission met this week and discussed how to expedite and streamline the way in which the city deals with buildings in violation of the dangerous building code. He said many of the same properties turn up on the commission’s meeting agenda month after month and, though some property owners promise to fix the problem, they often fail to do so.

“We want to take action but we give the people a break and before you know it a year has gone by and nothing’s changed,” Glass said. “We tried to give people breaks but it hasn’t worked out.”

Five properties on the agenda at the April 1 meeting have come before the commission again and again: 616 Clinton St., 14 Cottage St., 402 W. Gambier St., 202 1/2 S. Gay St., and 208 E. Hamtramck St. Each of these have been referred to the law director for possible legal action.

Glass said some of the owners of properties that regularly appear on the commission’s list are senior citizens who lack the means to get a porch or garage fixed, adding city officials are seeking volunteers to help assist such people. He said about a third of the properties on the list are in some stage of the foreclosure process.

“We don’t want to just start tearing buildings down, even if we have the authority,” he said.

Glass said the buildings in question pose no danger to the public and, though they are in violation of the section of the city’s ordinances that define dangerous building, they are more properly defined as nuisance properties. He said he would have a building demolished immediately if it did pose such a threat but estimates that the city would pay anywhere from $6,000 to $7,000 to tear down a building, possibly more if there is asbestos present. Though the bill would be put on the property owner’s taxes, but, that money — taxpayers’ dollars — will be lost until that person pays the tax bill.

Glass said Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis and Law Director Bill Smith will attend the next commission meeting early next month, in part to make sure that the commission’s new dangerous building protocol complies with the law. A draft of the new procedures has been drawn up that basically fleshes out the authority outlined in the code. At the next meeting, he said, a more firm time table for the procedures will be discussed.

Glass said, the city’s code enforcement officer, Larry Fogle, though not a member of the commission, will assume the role of a kind of advisor to its members and his duties will include making inspections, taking photos, notifying the property owner of the violations and presenting data to the commission. The position of code enforcement officer was created in 2006 to handle recurring nuisances such as high grass, junk cars, unsecured trash, as well as dilapidated buildings and to work with property owners to take the necessary steps to come into compliance with the city’s ordinances. He said the code enforcement officers.

If the commission makes a judgement that the building is unfit for human habitation, according to a draft of the new protocol, members will direct the safety-service director to place a condemnation card on the front of the building. The code enforcement will notify the owner to correct all violations within 30 days, as directed by the safety-service director and commission, and will also let owners know of the opportunity to appeal the commission’s judgement to the city’s building appeals board.

The code enforcement officer could put the property on the next subsequent commission agenda for discussion and the property for possible inspection. The building will be placed on the continued monitory category and the officer will provide monthly updates to the commission until the problem is fully resolved. If the owner is not making reasonable progress the commission may direct the safety-service director to turn the matter over to the law director for possible legal action.

Fogle said he expects to devote more of his time on buildings that meet the code’s criteria of a dangerous building, adding that the code never specified the role of the code enforcement officer in the process.

“We’re trying to bring more discipline to the process and incorporate some time lines,” he said. “I’m confident things will run much more smoothly.”

Fogle said, over the next few weeks, he will be tackling the current inventory of properties and putting owners on notice. He said this may mean other code violations will have to be delayed for a few additional days.

“Each building is a major project unto itself,” he said.

The commission is comprised of Dave Glass; Brian Benick, director of environmental services at the Knox County Health Department; Mount Vernon Fire Chief Shawn Christy; and Harry Winfrey of Richland Engineering out of Mansfield, the city’s contract engineer.