Covert looks to clean up junk cars, buildings

The Town of Covert is looking at efforts to clean-up junked cars and unsafe buildings in the community.At its regular meeting Monday (July 9), the town board heard from Town Supervisor Michael Reynolds about efforts underway to require landowners to comply with the state and local property maintenance codes.Town officials had received a number of complaints about junked cars and unsafe buildings in the town, Reynolds noted. These conditions pose a safety hazard, he said, and could also hurt the local economy by discouraging tourism and new businesses.Reynolds reported that he had spoken to Seneca County’s Building and CodesDepartment about enforcing the code in Covert. In response, code enforcement officers have reported bringing complaints against two local properties for violations, he said.One property, located on State Route 96, was alleged to have more than twenty junked cars and farm equipment on it, Reynolds said. The other involved a property on Route 89 that had both junked cars and an unsafe building. In both cases, the owners had been contacted, he said, and had been directed to clean up the sites.According to Reynolds, anyone violating the property maintenance codes is first given a chance to voluntarily comply with the law. If that doesn’t work, he said, the Codes Department can file civil or criminal charges.Reynolds said that anyone who wanted to make a complaint about violations of the Property Maintenance Code in the Town should call the Code Enforcement Office at (315) 539-1950 or 1-800-688-7188 or could contact him directly at 607-532-9567.