Newark council presses administration on inspections, code enforcement and UCC; corporation counsel to deliver report

Council members and residents at a Feb. 25 special meeting of the Newark Municipal Council pressed city officials for clearer enforcement on building inspections, illegal conversions and Uniform Construction Code (UCC) compliance, prompting Corporation Counsel Kenyatta Stewart to promise a written report by Friday and a full council discussion at the next pre-meeting on Tuesday.

Council members described recurring code and inspection problems across wards and asked for specific information from the courts on how many enforcement actions are dismissed for technical errors. "Could we get some data back from the courts in terms of what percentage of these code enforcement violations end up getting dismissed in court because of technical violations?" Councilman Ramos asked. Councilman Kelly and others said residents continue to live with unresolved hazards even after repeated inspections.

Councilman Silva proposed a weekly task force rotating through wards to address illegal conversions, absentee landlords and repeat offenders. "We need a task force in each ward every day... hit these homeowners relentlessly every week until they get the message," Silva said.

Councilwoman Scott Rountree described a specific case in the South Ward in which code enforcement issued citations but the municipal court later dismissed the case despite ongoing debris and unsafe conditions. "I'm trying to figure out what is the process to abate, dismiss a case in court where I'm sitting here with pictures... backed up on many properties that had not been abated," Rountree said.

Corporation Counsel Kenyatta Stewart acknowledged a scheduling disconnect for today's planned inspection presentation and said multiple departments must prepare a comprehensive report. "I just asked them to have the report done by the end of business Friday so that you can have it through the clerk... so that next week when all those parties are here, that we can have a real discussion on Tuesday," Stewart said.

During public comment, resident George Tillman Jr. said the city's Affirmative Action Review Council has repeatedly lacked quorum and that he had requested historical quarterly and semiannual progress reports on contractor compliance under a municipal ordinance; the clerk's office responded that no records were found for a 10-year period. Tillman said he had filed an open-request for records dating from July 1, 2015, through Oct. 9, 2024, and cited "ordinance 6PSF-C061715" when requesting contractor reporting on Newark hires, training positions and good-faith efforts to hire Newark residents.

Resident Deborah Salters urged accountability for federal rental-assistance funds and alleged departments were not directing funds to residents in need. "Where is all of the money that we received to give people their first month rent and... security and rent?" she asked. Salters said she was concerned about waste and lack of transparency in distribution.

On the record, the council directed the administration and corporation counsel to produce the requested inspection/UCC report by Friday and scheduled a full discussion at the council pre-meeting next Tuesday. The council then recessed into executive session to discuss employee health-care matters and to reschedule one inspection presentation that could not be completed because of scheduling conflicts.