Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Dangerous Buildings Code Enforcement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Casper officials outline recent dangerous‑building work, cite funding and staffing limits
Summary
Building and code officials described two enforcement tracks — an unsafe‑structures process adopted by the city in 2020 for certain rental properties and a dangerous‑buildings abatement process tied to the 1988 Uniform Code — and summarized demolitions, liens recovered and staffing and funding constraints.
City building and code enforcement officials summarized recent work targeting vacant, dilapidated and occupied problematic properties and described the resource intensity of posting, securing and abating dangerous buildings.
Justin Scott, Chief Building Official, said the city uses two separate tools: the city’s 2020 unsafe‑structures ordinance (used primarily for rental/landlord–tenant disputes and containing seven listed conditions) and a dangerous‑buildings process based on the 1988 edition of the Uniform Code for the Abatement of Dangerous Buildings (which lists 18 conditions permitting enforcement actions). Scott said the unsafe‑structures complaints average about 20 per year and are often landlord–tenant disputes; dangerous‑building cases are pursued for properties that generate repeated police or fire calls or create significant public‑safety hazards.
Amber Tividen, Code Enforcement Supervisor, described the operational steps and costs involved in dangerous‑building abatement: title searches, administrative warrants, posting and securing (boarding, removing utilities, police walk‑throughs), asbestos testing and abatement, contractor coordination for demolition, and placing liens. Scott said the city set aside $50,000 from a redevelopment/revolving land fund for demolitions; as of the presentation, about $46,000 of that had been used and the city had recouped roughly $28,000 through liens paid back to the city.
Officials presented examples of properties posted or abated since 2023 — hotels and motels used by squatters, manufactured homes with repeated fires, hoarder houses that became fire hazards and properties on the river where occupants were reportedly dumping human waste. Officials said many of the problem properties were subsequently purchased and renovated by private investors after the city posted or performed a forced cleanup.
Council members asked about capacity and options to increase effectiveness. City staff and the city attorney discussed possible state statutory changes to improve the city’s ability to recoup abatement costs (including suggestions to change lien priority) and said staffing and funding remain the principal bottlenecks. Councilors urged staff to produce cost estimates for adding enforcement FTEs or increasing abatement funding, and to post clearer before‑and‑after summaries on city channels to help the public understand results and support for the program.
Officials said demolition is a last resort, used only when other approaches fail, and that the city prefers investor purchases and rehabilitation when feasible.
