Westmont resident raises harassment concerns about code enforcement; village offers follow-up

At the start of the Aug. 7 meeting during public comment, resident Susan Decicco of 110 East Naperville Road described receiving a code-enforcement notice and said she experienced what she characterized as harassment from village code staff while attempting to comply. Decicco said she received a notice listing multiple alleged violations, including rubbish, building materials, fencing, inoperable equipment and overgrown vegetation, and that the compliance window listed in the notice ran from June 27 to July 30. She said she left a voicemail asking for two additional weeks due to weather and personal constraints and described staff visits to her property, including a person she identified as Joe Schultz who, she said, entered her property and took photographs of areas not visible from the street. Decicco said the staff member told her the village would not be lenient and that her property was under closer scrutiny. Mayor Niro and staff responded at the meeting: the mayor apologized for the experience and asked Decicco to connect with a village code representative present at the meeting (identified in the record as Joe Henner), and offered to have staff walk through the situation and work with her. Village Manager Gunther and others acknowledged the tone of some reminder notices could be strong and said staff are working to improve communications. No formal enforcement action was taken on the record at the meeting; staff were asked to follow up with Decicco directly. Decicco said she had a scrap pickup scheduled and that most alleged violations were not visible from the public way. The board did not take formal action during public comment beyond directing staff to assist the resident and to review the communication process.