Crystal Surdyk, Jamestown director of development, is pictured with Jay Schultz, 19A Homeownership Program contractor. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

As Crystal Surdyk puts it, code enforcement is “about communication and being able to communicate.”

That point is abundantly clear as the phone inside the director of development’s office seemed to ring often one recent morning.

“The Department of Development, as an office, is bigger than just code enforcement,” Surdyk told The Post-Journal as a reporter spent several hours observing the department.

“I would say our mission is to make sure that we’re doing everything that we can to maintain and improve quality of life for all of our residents, our visitors, anyone that comes into the city, whether it’s a place to live, work or visit,” she said.

But it’s not just Surdyk fielding what appears to be countless calls. As the city Department of Development’s office manager, Elizabeth Torres probably receives the lion’s share of incoming messages from the public, businesses and organizations that turn to the office for assistance. During just one three-minute interview with a reporter, Torres noted that seven calls had come in.

“I try to connect them with the right department, the right person,” Torres said of her goal as office manager. “I try to serve them the best that I can once they walk through that door.”

It’s not uncommon for the Department of Development to have dozens of messages awaiting staff on Mondays. In addition to the calls, the department also handles walk-ins at its office within the Jamestown Municipal Building.

“A lot of them come in very frustrated, sometimes screaming and yelling and cursing at me right off the bat,” Torres said. “I don’t know what it is, but I’m able to get them to a point where they’re walking out of here happy. And that’s my goal — my goal is to make sure that they leave here knowing that everything is going to be OK.”

‘JUST TRYING TO STAY ON TOP OF THINGS’

Spending even a little bit of time with the Department of Development can be overwhelming. There seems to be meetings either ongoing, about to start or being planned.

One such meeting with the Post-Journal present included Larry Scalise, the city’s building and zoning enforcement officer, and Ellen Shadle, the city’s principal planner, with two developers who are looking to bring new life to a vacant building on Fluvanna Avenue. The developers are hoping to open a new business by next April.

While the department features several new faces, Scalise has been with the city for 24 years.

There are some aspects of the job that have changed over the years, Scalise said, noting the frequent phone calls and “just trying to stay on top of things.” But employees are there to help the public and to assist with new development.

“People come in with proposals, and we do everything we can to make it a reality,” he said. “There are certain things that have to be done and have to be followed. Some projects just aren’t going to happen, but the ones that are a good fit and look like they can happen, we do what we can to work with the developers.”

Housing is important to the department, which routinely promotes programs to aid local residents. One such program, in the form of a Housing Repair Mini Grant, provides financial assistance to eligible homeowner occupants for home repairs. As noted on the city’s website, “These repairs are intended to bring the home up to proper housing standards as defined by the current New York State and City of Jamestown Building Code.”

The city also provides heaps of resources for homeowners and renters in addition to utility assistance.

CODE ENFORCEMENT

While the Department of Development oversees numerous programs and services, it’s code enforcement that has received the most buzz in the last year.

Just recently, the Jamestown City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that allows for direct ticketing by code enforcement officers for a range of quality-of-life matters. They include exterior junk and debris; animal maintenance and waste cleanup; high weeds, grass or plant growth; and unauthorized motor vehicles, among others.

With the new ordinance, code enforcement officers will be able to ticket residents directly.

“The biggest thing is it’s like a fix-it ticket,” Surdyk said. “If you just mow the lawn or you just clean up the junk or you just pick up your animal waste, the ticket goes away. You don’t have to pay the fine if you do it within the allocated period of time. If you go beyond that period of time, and you still remediate it, the judge has the ability to lower the fine.”

Surdyk doesn’t see the ordinance as a revenue-generator for the city. “We see it as, ‘Let’s just get this into compliance and let’s do it faster than what the really long court process takes.'”

At present, the city has two code enforcement officers and another who helps when the department is short-handed. Two additional employees currently are in training.

Surdyk said she’d like to have two or three more employees handling these duties. She’s eyeing a rental inspection component to the department to go with a rental inspection ordinance.

“In order to do that and implement that we really would need, probably, two to three additional inspectors,” she said.

In the last month, code enforcement officers have been granted bench warrants by the city court judge to individuals who have “repeatedly ignored notices of code violations and subsequent appearance tickets for Housing Court,” the city said last month.

At the time, one of the warrants was executed by the Jamestown Police Department’s nuisance officer.

“Chronic absenteeism has unfortunately been a feature in Housing Court,” Mayor Eddie Sundquist said in a statement. “Repeat offenders have developed a mentality that if they skip court, their violation will be forgotten about and eventually forgiven. That is stopping now. If you do not show up to court, you will be arrested and held accountable for your actions.”

TAKING STOCK

Bronson Abbott is one of the city’s two housing and rehab code enforcement specialists along with Ryan Richter.

Abbott has been a city employee for about two years and acknowledged the current housing situation in Jamestown.

According to state housing statistics, the number of occupied homes owned in the city decreased from 6,449 in 2010 to 5,890 in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of occupied rental units has increased, from 6,673 in 2010 to 6,751 in 2020.

Overall, the city’s housing stock — the number of existing housing units — has decreased in the last decade.

“There is a housing issue in Jamestown, and we’re trying to rectify that,” Abbott said.

Surdyk also referenced the city’s housing stock, which she said has “taken a huge hit.”

“We have a ton of housing stock — a great deal of it — that pre-dates 1978, which means lead paint,” she said. “A lot of our housing stock pre-dates 1950, so we have a really, really old housing stock. We have a lot of lead paint issues. We have a lot of asbestos.”

Abbott said their goal is to “triage” the housing and code complaints that sometimes flood into the department. Complaints vary, such as for tall grass, but also for peeling paint on homes, strewn garbage and even vehicles being sold outside homes.

In just a 15-minute drive around the city, Abbott pointed out a dozen violations of varying degree. Some are on the city’s radar, but others are not because a complaint has not yet been filed.

“You deal with what comes at you,” said Abbott, who often appears in city Housing Court for open code violation cases.

There is a silver lining in the complaint-driven aspect to their job. It means city residents are being proactive to limiting and preventing further nuisances.

“It’s great that we have so many people who care,” Abbott said.