The Board of Trustees of the Village of West Carthage shall appoint
a Building Inspector, who will be charged with the responsibility of carrying
out the obligations and duties set forth in this chapter.
No person, firm, corporation or association who or which is the owner
of a building in the Village of West Carthage shall cause, suffer, allow or
permit the said building to become dangerous or unsafe to the public. In the
event that any building now is or hereafter becomes dangerous or unsafe to
the public from any cause whatsoever, the said owner or occupant shall repair
or remove the said building. In the event of the failure of the owner of any
such building to repair or remove the same, the Building Inspector of the
Village of West Carthage shall make a complete inspection and report of the
condition of the said building to the Board of Trustees of said Village. Notice
shall thereafter be served on the owner or some one of the owners, executors,
legal representatives, agents, lessees or any other person having a vested
or contingent interest in the said building. The said notice shall contain
a description of the premises, a statement of the particulars in which the
building and/or structure is unsafe or dangerous and an order requiring the
said building or structure to be made safe and secure or removed. The said
notice shall also provide for the time within which the person served with
the said notice shall commence and complete the securing or removal of the
building or structure. In the event of the neglect or refusal of the person
so served with the said notice to comply with same, a survey of the premises
shall be made by an inspector and architect to be named by the Board of Trustees
of said Village, and a particular builder, engineer or architect appointed
by the person notified as above, and in the event of the refusal or neglect
of the person so notified to appoint such surveyor, the two surveyors named
shall make the survey and report. The notice shall further provide that in
the event the building or other structure shall be reported dangerous or unsafe
under such survey, an application will be made at a Special Term of the Supreme
Court, Jefferson County, for an order determining the building or other structure
to be a public nuisance and directing that it shall be repaired and secured
or taken down and removed.
A signed copy of the report of survey shall be posted on the building,
and the surveyors appointed by the Board of Trustees shall be compensated
by the Village.
All costs and expenses incurred by the Village in connection with any
and all of the above proceedings to remove or secure, including the cost of
actually removing the said building or structure or securing the same, shall
be assessed against the land on which the building or structure is located.
If such owner or person served by mail as hereinabove provided shall
fail to pay the costs and expenses incurred by the Village within 10 days
after being notified of the costs thereof by registered mail, the Village
Clerk shall file, immediately preceding the time for making the annual assessment
roll, a certificate of such actual costs and expenses with a statement as
to the property upon which such costs and expenses were incurred, the buildings
or other obstructions removed, as the case may be, with the Assessor of the
Village, who shall, in the preparation of the next assessment roll of general
Village taxes, assess such amount upon such property, and the same shall be
levied, collected and enforced in the same manner, by the same proceedings,
at the same time, under the same penalties and have the same lien upon the
property assessed as the general Village tax and as a part thereof.
In cases of great emergency where the delay of proceedings as hereinbefore
provided would result in probable loss of life or property, the Mayor or Manager
shall have the power to direct the Building Inspector to proceed at once to
take such action as is needed to guard the safety of persons and property.