Code Enforcement Committee

City of Middletown OFFICE OF THE GENERAL COUNSEL 245 deKoven Drive Middletown, CT 06457-1300 TEL: (860) 638-4820 FAX: (860) 638-1920 TDD: (860) 344-3521 Minutes Regular Meeting of January 25, 2024 Code Enforcement Committee Committee Members Present: Gary Gessaro, Fire Marshal; Scott Kotowski, Deputy Fire Marshal; Kevin Elak, Director of Health; Dean Lisitano, Chief Building Official; Thomas Hazel, Zoning and Blight Enforcement Officer; Lieutenant Nick Puorro; James Mastroianni, Fire Marshal; Christopher Holden, Director of Public Works (arrived at 9:08 am); Bobbye Knoll Peterson, Chief of Staff (arrived at 9:12 am), and Christopher Forte, Assistant General Counsel. Members of the Public: 1. Call to Order By Staff. AGC Forte called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. 2. Approval of Minutes. Review and approval of the minutes for the January 11, 2024 regular meeting. Motion to Approve made by Dean Lisitano, seconded by Scott Kotowski. Motion passed 6- 0-1, with Nick Purro abstaining. Director Holden and Chief of Staff Peterson were absent for the vote. 3. Public Session. No public comment. 4. New Business. A. Mayor’s Office. 1. Update from the Mayor’s Office. No updates. B. Public Works. 1. Update from the Public Works Department. No updates. C. Health Department. 1. Update from the Health Department. No updates.  D. Department of Land Use. 1. Update from the Department of Land Use. No updates. E. Building Department. 1. Update from the Building Department. No updates. F. Police Department. 1. Update from the Police Department. No updates. G. City Fire. 1. Update from City Fire. No updates. H. South Fire District. 1. Update from the South Fire District. No updates. I. Westfield Fire District. 1. Update from the Westfield Fire District. No updates. J. Office of the General Counsel. 1. Update from the Office of the General Counsel. No updates. 5. Old Business. A. Mayor’s Office. 1. Forbidden Llama: Property owner will be opening second floor in the coming weeks. Health, Zoning, Building, and Fire will follow up to ensure compliance with City codes. B. Health Department 1. 455 & 465 Middlefield Street: 465 Middlefield Street: Zoning and City Fire executed an administrative search warrant for the front building on the property. During the inspection, they found 3 illegal residential units with tenants living in them, with 1 unit that could be easily converted to a residential unit. Units were heated with kerosene heaters and space heaters, and it did not appear the units were otherwise heated due to the fact that the units were cold. No smoke detection was found and blocked second egress, which property owner corrected within a few hours. Building and Health will be seeking administrative search warrants to inspect the illegal units.  With regards to 455 Middlefield Street, the Fire Department and Building Department approved the spray booth and ventilation system. Zoning may be seeking an administrative search warrant for the building as residential units were advertised on Facebook marketplace. C. Building Department 1. 699 Country Club Road: Building is seeking an administrative search warrant. D. Office of the General Counsel 1. Forest City Laundry. Awaiting demolition of the building. 2. 237 Spencer Drive. Notice of Abatement was issued by OGC and time for compliance has passed. Public Works will be sending crews out to estimate the cost of the removal of the blight. 6. Adjournment. Motion to adjourn by Tom Hazel, seconded by Gary Gessaro, and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 9:22 am.