The city’s Housing Committee discussed ongoing housing issues, including pending housing demolitions, during its meeting Monday. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

A city resident’s letter to the City Council Housing Committee is sparking new discussion.

A letter has been received from a constituent of Councilman Bill Reynolds, R-Ward 5 and Housing Committee chairman, by both the city and other offices of local representatives and elected officials, prompting discussion during Monday’s Housing Committee meeting about ongoing issues in the city, including demolitions.

Besides demolitions, the letter discussed issues such as high grass and other quality of life issues, something Crystal Surdyk, city development director, said is handled through the newly implemented quality of life ticketing which has been a process the Department of Development has been using for a year that works like a fix-it ticket.

Demolitions wise, she said several are in the queue to be done this month, especially on Fulton Street. With the concrete and paving season coming to a close, Surdyk said the contractors are able to shift gears and return to demolition work.

“I know we have quite a few on Fulton Street that we are anticipating to have down towards the end of this month, maybe the beginning of October,” Surdyk said. “They certainly know that we are in a hurry.”

There are several others she said set to come down before the end of this winter and some others by spring. At any given time, she added there are several in various stages of the process.

“Those ones on Fulton Street have gone through all of the other checks, so thankfully they are ready to actually come down,” Surdyk said.

Councilman Brent Sheldon, R-Ward 1, asked about a new contractor that the city had heard from that does not do paving or concrete work, and if they had gotten any of the demolition bids. Surdyk said she knew some bids were recently awarded but she did not know to whom as that is handled by the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation. She did know the city has gotten a couple of new contractors, with one that has received an abatement certification.

“It’s good, we definitely need it,” Surdyk said.

Other concerns discussed by the Housing Committee included absentee or irresponsible landlords, living conditions, the homeless situation as the seasons progress towards winter, a specific property on 11th Street and the tax auction process. Reynolds noted that the list in the letter from the constituent included a lot of concerns that were always ongoing and being looked into in the city and that maybe by the next voting session the council could put together a letter of their own asking their area representatives to look into law changes or funding or doing something to help fix some of these problems.