Evansville hearing officer affirms vacate and raise orders, issues $1,000 penalty to Masrani Global; dozens of cases continued for inspections

Hearing Officer Ryan Schultz presided over the Evansville City Building Commission hearing on July 24, 2025, where the commission affirmed multiple vacate, raise and repair orders, ordered interior inspections, and imposed a $1,000 civil penalty on Masrani Global LLC for a hazardous property at 802 North Fourth Avenue.

The session addressed more than two dozen property-enforcement matters under the city—s unsafe-structure code (cited at the hearing as Code 36-7-9) and included a mix of affirmed orders, continuances to allow inspections or permit work, and a civil penalty for willful noncompliance. The hearing officer and inspectors emphasized public-safety reasons for orders where structures lacked utilities, showed structural damage or had open access that invited vagrancy.

The most consequential ruling came in CE#25CE126 for 802 North Fourth Avenue, where the commission found the structure a public nuisance, ordered the building vacated and sealed, and assessed a $1,000 civil penalty against the listed owner, Masrani Global LLC. "I'm gonna issue a civil penalty of a thousand dollars, to Masrani Global," Hearing Officer Ryan Schultz told the room, citing repeated inspections showing inactive utilities, open access and trash that had attracted trespassers.

Several other cases resulted in modified or continued orders rather than immediate demolitions. The commission continued CE#25CE131 (1916 South Ferris Avenue, owner Randy Johnson) to Aug. 28 but ordered an interior inspection on Tuesday, July 29 at 10 a.m. to give inspectors a fuller picture of…