ROCKLAND — Impassioned was the only way the mood could be interpreted Monday evening, Oct 3, at Rockland City Hall as city councilors proceeded with their agenda-setting meeting. When it came time to discuss the Vacant Property Registry things started heating up.

Code Enforcement Officer John Root began by saying his office, and himself, was to blame for some of the inefficiencies on the vacant buildings as much as anyone.

"I've addressed in one form or another every single vacancy in the city," he said. "Whether or not things get done is the other difficult part. It takes time, but if we can get organized and focused on this, it's actually something that I will sit here tonight and promise the council that it will be a priority on top of short-term rental for this winter."

Root said they needed to discuss is the difference between a dangerous building, an abandoned building and a vacant building.

"When I was assistant code officer years ago," he said, "I had the city council out to numerous places where they actually met in front of the house and declared it a dangerous building. The process was great and the city took it down. We assessed a special tax, which you can do, and everything worked. We ended up with the property most of the times, but sometimes it's the only way it's get done."

Root said last year a state statute concerning abandoned buildings was written.

"This statue is for that in between building that is not ready to collapse, but had been abandoned and not kept up and not kept secure,” he said. "It references another part of the statue that describes what abandonment is. Doors and windows on mortgaged premises are continuously boarded up; rubbish trash and debris, furnishings and personal property are absent from the mortgaged premises."

Root said he liked the statute because it is similar to the abandoned building ordinance and there’s no need to go to court.

"It allows you to do what needs to be done and assesses a special tax that goes on the tax bill," he said. "And, as you know, if they don't pay the tax bill, we end up with the property, anyway. On the other side, we can bill them for any repairs we make to a property, but it requires a judgment from the court for us to get paid."

Root said he did not need the city to point out abandoned properties to him. He knew where they were and if council so desired, he would bring them one or two next month to try the statute out on.

"The way it works is that I send a notice of violation,” said Root. “If I get no response, I send a notice that we will have a public hearing with the city council and find if it is, or is not, an abandoned building under this statute. If we find it is abandoned then we have the right to go through and do these things."

Councilor Valli Geiger said that this was not holding code enforcement responsible for the many dangerous and abandoned buildings in Rockland. Geiger said she wanted to give Root more of an ability to manage those properties.

Properties, she said, include those that are foreclosed by banks, as well as houses that have been abandoned by owners.

“There has to be a way that we encourage people to fix, rent or sell,” she said. “But just to let it sit year after year is criminal."

Councilor Will Clayton agreed with Geiger.

"I want to see as much teeth as we can get into it,” he said. “How can we stop the bleeding because we have the ability to do it. If we need more teeth to do this, let's do it. I know I will and I'm pretty sure Val will give you as much teeth as you need to do it."

"Let's by all means identify dangerous buildings and force them to be taken down," said Geiger.

MacClellen-Ruf said there will be a discussion scheduled to answer the questions that need to be answered.

"We have an ordinance amendment from Councilor Geiger, and what we hear from you [Root] is that everything is in place already," she said.

"I am not interested in going after some poor person who lost a home to foreclosure," said Geiger. "I am  interested in holding banks accountable. And we should be ready to charge them if they are not doing their job and we need to do it for them. You're telling me John that everything is in place, but we have lots of building that are crumbling and I'm frustrated by it."

Root said he will follow through to the end.

"The abandoned building statute is fairly new," he said. "Dangerous buildings have been in place and it's my lack of following through to the end. I've done what I'm supposed to do, I'd be happy to show you paperwork on any of them; however, following through to the end has been difficult and I just haven't done it, and I will."

In the end, Geiger removed her request for the amended ordinance to see if the present policy in place would work.

The law firm of Eaton Peabody out of Bangor was in attendance to discuss Legal Service Proposals to the city.

Andrew Hamilton, of that firm, said: "Try to find ways to get out of the way so staff can do its work. I know there's a natural human tendency to want to get involved on both sides. The town manager form of government suggests policy for the council and implementation for the staff."