by Brent Hovey, Reporter
Aurora — An exterior maintenance code the city has tried to pass in one form or another off-and-on for many years won’t happen at this time.
Council voted to remove the legislation from its agenda Aug. 11, meaning the code is dead for now. It was a 5 to 4 vote, with James Fisher, Robert Galaska Jr., George Horvat and Carl Rausch voting to keep the issue alive.
A public hearing had been set for Aug. 25, but that will no longer be on the calendar.
Mayor Lynn McGill introduced the code July 14, but Council had been torn over the effectiveness and execution of the code since then.
More of that was voiced Aug. 11, led by Councilman Joe Kastelic, who was concerned about how the code would be enforced.
“What’s the standard for this?” he asked. “Are we only going to enforce it on the residents who’s neighbors call? What about a house that has no paint compared to one where paint is chipping?
“What about a farmer whose house you can’t see from the road? Are we going to tell him he needs to fix his roof?”
Kastelic said the code would be hard to enforce because of Aurora’s diverseness.
He said at a previous meeting the only way he would support the code is if it went to the voters.
PUTTING IT on the Nov. 4 ballot was discussed July 14, but an Aug. 23 deadline for issues to be submitted to the Portage County Board of Elections squashed those plans.
Rausch said he knows the legislation isn’t perfect, but favored keeping it.
“There’s a process moving forward and obviously it is moving forward because some people feel the need for it,” he said. “We probably need something better than we have, so why wouldn’t we keep it moving to find something that’s right for Aurora?
“We should have the public hearing and revise and amend it. If we need to put it on the ballot, we can. If we stop now, I’m afraid we can’t get started again.”
Removing the legislation before hearing from residents also bothered McGill.
“I’ve been getting calls for a long time from residents saying they want this,” he said after the meeting. He noted calls were 20 to 1 in favor of a code.
“This is not the mayor’s code,” he continued. “This was requested by residents, so I brought it to Council. We should hear from them before we scrap it.
“I think it’s very unusual to schedule a public hearing and then remove the issue before it is held.”
Planning-Zoning-Building Director Rich Wehrenberg said the city has trouble enforcing current laws because officials don’t have the “teeth” or manpower to do so.
McGill’s plan for the code called for an additional zoning inspector to be hired.
