Windsor Locks Officials Propose Hiring Someone to Handle Blight Complaints

The Windsor Locks Board of Finance is considering a suggestion to hire a part-time employee to oversee a proposed blight ordinance.

Officials have been revamping the current town ordinance to better define blight and make it easier for complaints to be handled. The board heard details of the proposal at its meeting Tuesday.

First Selectman Steven N. Wawruck Jr. said blight has become a central theme in Windsor Locks during the past four or five years and seems to come to a head in the past 10 months or so.

“With increases in foreclosures, short sales and the bad housing market, we’ve seen a marked increase in blight problems,” Wawruck said.

The town has seen 68 reports of blight this year, Wawruck said. Each complaint he has to deal with takes time away from other duties he has as first selectman, he said.

During the August 2 board of selectman meeting, Selectman Joseph R. Calsetta proposed that someone be hired to set up the process of handling blight complaints if the  new blight ordinance is approved. The person would be hired temporarily and work no more than 19 hours a week, Calsetta said Tuesday.

“We need to put a system in place,” Calsetta said. “If you say no, we’ll still make it work.”

Wawruck said if approved, the person would be paid $10 an hour.

Calsetta said the current proposed blight ordinance would make the system work. The town’s efforts are an evolving thing because blight is not going away, he said. The ordinance still needs to be approved by town meeting.

There are three places complaints are usually made the police department, the first selectman’s office or the building department. What happens to a complaint after that isn’t always known, Calsetta said.

For instance, if a person is fined and doesn't pay the fine, is that followed up? Not always, Calsetta said. The part-time person will help set up system where the complaints are kept track of and followed up, he added.

Wawruck said it usually costs the town more than $200 when it first cleans up the outside of a property. Subsequent cleanups are about $80, he said.

How each complaint is handled can depend on the situation of the owner of the property. Some situations can be people who have fallen on difficult financial times,  someone who has health or age issues, or absentee owners, Wawruck said.

“We try to be cognizant of each property,” Wawruck said.

When asked by the board of finance if the town could hire, on a part-time business, someone who does the same work for another community, Wawruck said that would be problematic. The town already does that for positions such as economic development and the town planner. Those people are only available at certain times during the day, he said.

“We’ve always band-aided problems using someone else from another town,” Wawruck said. “Some towns are insulted we’re using their employees part-time.”

Calsetta said he sees the issue as a deficiency and that the town’s chief executive officer can’t be asked to push papers around town hall about the issue.