Trust may come with changes

By Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune, Mar 12, 2004, Updated Oct 30, 2009

More than 50 people citywide have called city Commissioner Randy Leonard’s office in the past month to complain about being harassed by a few city housing and nuisance inspectors.

“There is the perception among the people that have called in that they have been bullied, and they felt they didn’t have a lot of recourse,” said Ty Kovatch, Leonard’s chief of staff. “We’ve learned a lot. É We are taking major steps to make sure that perception changes.”

Kovatch said people have reported being pressured into taking various actions on their house that were beyond the scope of the city’s property maintenance code.

Most of the complaints have been sparked by news accounts of an investigation into the alleged actions of three veteran neighborhood inspectors. Leonard contends that David Hallberg, Edgar Bolden and Nora Mullane bought or tried to purchase houses on which they had open inspection cases. Leonard said such actions were clear violations of state and city ethics and conflict of interest laws.

Hallberg, Bolden and Mullane Ñ Hallberg’s wife and former supervisor Ñare on paid administrative leave pending an investigation by Leonard’s office, the city attorney’s office and the Portland police.

The housing inspectors’ attorneys, however, disagree with Leonard’s contentions.

Hallberg’s attorney, Craig Crispin, said, “It’s our position that he did a service to the neighborhoods by properly picking (the houses) up in an appropriate way, investing in them, cleaning them up, giving value to the individuals he took them from.

“We’ve not identified a conflict of interest yet,” Crispin said. “In one case, he turned over his file when he started acting as something other than an inspector.

“There may be some room for some appearance of impropriety,” Crispin said, “but regardless of that potential view, the kind of statements we’ve seen in the press É go way beyond anything that could be a difference of opinion on what he did. We feel Commissioner Leonard is way out of bounds, out of line, in making the kind of public comments he has regarding Mr. Hallberg. They have been extremely damaging to Mr. Hallberg, and it’s our anticipation there will be action taken in that regard.”

Crispin declined to elaborate.

Leonard said he has not stepped out of bounds in stating that he wants to fire Hallberg if the allegations are proved true.

In past weeks, Leonard has sent notices of proposed discipline to Hallberg and Mullane, who are scheduled to present their cases to the city in separate due process hearings Wednesday. The city is still preparing its case against Bolden.

Kevin Keaney, Mullane’s attorney, said he could not comment on the case.

Fees can mount quickly

The Office of Neighborhood Involvement took over the neighborhood inspection program from the Bureau of Development Services in 2002. In many cases, inspectors say, residents become angry with, or feel harassed by, the neighborhood inspection process because they don’t understand how it works.

If a resident receives a citation, he or she must have the problem fixed in 30 days. If not, a monthly penalty, or “code enforcement fee,” kicks in. If the resident does not pay the fee within 30 days, the auditor’s office issues a lien against the property.

The monthly code enforcement fees, which increased 40 percent across the board as of July 1, 2002, now are $99 for a one- to two-unit complex, $203 for a three- to 10-unit complex and $308 for 11 or more units or a nonresidential building. The fees, which include a 10 percent processing fee for the auditor’s office, double after six months. In addition, the auditor applies a 12 percent variable interest rate to all late fees.

Once a person is paying a code enforcement fee each month, they have what the city calls a “revolving account.” The account can add up to thousands of dollars over time, and properties can acquire multiple liens.

Most of the time, inspectors say, residents are responsive to their citations or verbal notifications. The inspector will ask that the resident call to report that the work has been done. If the inspector returns and the violation has been addressed, the case is closed. If the resident doesn’t call back, the inspector will return after a week or so, and must recheck the property at 30 days and again at 90 days until the work is done. If not, the code enforcement fee process kicks in.

That was the problem plaguing Mark Benedict, a long-haul trucker who claimed that inspectors harassed him in the early 1990s while he was making extensive repairs on his 1894-era Mount Tabor house.

Over four years, he said, he poured between $19,000 and $25,000 into fixing his leaky roof, crumbling walls and outdated electrical system. He even built a backyard fence and installed a skylight in his bathroom to show the inspectors that he was trying to improve its appearance.

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