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Yorkville, Illinois Building Inspector Fired for Not Updating Codes

[Source: The Beacon News | September 3, 2009]

A longtime Yorkville building code enforcer has been replaced for not updating the city's building codes since 2000.

Code official William Dettmer, who was contracted by the city, has ended a 16-year career in the building department, Yorkville Mayor Valerie Burd said.

The City Council has since approved the hiring of former Elburn building inspector Paul Zabel of Aurora, who will serve as the interim building inspector for six months.

Burd said she will decide whether to make a recommendation to the council to hire Zabel permanently after that point.

According to Burd, because Dettmer did not update the books, the city's insurance rating increased.

Burd said the amount of funding going to Dettmer's department to run its operation also seemed inflated.

Dettmer's department was paid 80 percent of revenues from all building permits. Even during the economic downturn last year, the building department raked in at least $260,000. In past years, the department's share of permit revenue was up to $1 million.

"A quarter of a million dollars in a bad year is pretty good," Burd said, referring to the dollar amount going to Dettmer's department, which included staff members and other inspectors.

Instead of contracting out the building inspector, Zabel will be paid as a city employee. The department will also get a part-time administrative assistant. Other needed inspectors, in plumbing to electricity for example, would be contracted through an intergovernmental agreement with Oswego, so Yorkville would share code enforcement officials with Oswego, Burd said.

Cracking down on problem sites and eyesores throughout the city also could have been handled better by the previous official, Burd added.

Dettmer could not be reached for comment.

Zabel said Tuesday, five days into his new post, that the building codes situation in Yorkville "isn't too bad."

"I've seen worse situations," he said, adding that Elburn's building codes were 11 years old when he took the job.

"Codes change every cycle. Some become less stringent and sometimes they get more restrictive," Zabel said.

Zabel's first priorities will be to examine the codes from 2009 on back and present best practices to the City Council and the mayor at a future meeting.

He added that just three municipalities in Illinois have adopted 2009 building codes, and most communities around the Yorkville area follow 2006 building codes.

Original Release

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