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What you missed at the Jackson Council meeting.
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0:00
Are you done sir?
0:02
[Applause]
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I'm not going back and forth to answer
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out of respect. I would like to know.
0:10
Sir, are you going to walk away or you
0:11
going to let me respond?
0:13
>> Can you let me answer?
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>> Because I would like to give you the
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facts.
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>> You want to sit down and answer?
0:19
Absolutely. Go ahead. But I would like
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you to stay and not run out the door.
0:21
That's all I'm asking.
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>> Okay. So, I just want to go into the
0:26
facts of what you're saying and thank
0:27
you for reading my emails. I appreciate
0:29
that because as you can see it's
0:31
transparency and you're twisting the
0:33
words and that's okay. I get it.
0:34
>> What words? What words?
0:36
>> We're not doing this. We're not doing
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this.
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>> So, I'm going to talk. I allowed you to
0:40
talk. You're not going to be competitive
0:41
because that's not going to get
0:42
anywhere. Okay. You can laugh at me.
0:44
That's fine. But I just want to get
0:46
accurate in your in your your
0:48
statements. So, the reason why we were
0:50
going over is because the productivity
0:53
was not there. There was no violations.
0:55
So, we got the violations that we wrote
0:57
right. last month and everything that
0:59
they did. Out of 196 or 139, there was
1:04
nine that came from code enforcement.
1:06
Everything came from council and
1:08
residents. Why are residents giving code
1:10
enforcement jobs to do? Why is not code
1:12
enforcement? You could turn around and
1:14
do a 360 and find 10 violations. That's
1:17
not happening. We had to put GPS
1:19
trackers on their vehicles because we
1:21
don't know where they were at. There's
1:23
40 hours of a in a work week. They wrote
1:26
three violations. Yes, there was
1:29
problems and yes, I do stand behind
1:31
exactly what I did because I believe
1:32
that these residents that you're talking
1:34
about that are having problems with rent
1:36
uh rentals, it's an issue. It's an issue
1:39
and it is on our code enforcement. It is
1:41
on our zoning board. We're trying. So,
1:43
the you're changing I know that you're
1:45
videotaping me with your guy and you're
1:47
running, you know, for election and this
1:49
is for clicks because you come in an
1:50
elevate. You come in, you get a prepared
1:53
speech, you change the words, you got
1:55
emails, which I don't even know if you
1:57
opened. I don't know how you got them,
1:58
but that's okay cuz I can take it cuz
2:01
I'm not scared of you and I'm not scared
2:03
of your videos and I'm not scared of
2:04
your t-shirts, okay? I'm not because I
2:07
know that I'm doing good for my town
2:09
that I grew up here. I've lived my whole
2:11
life here. So, if you think I don't see
2:13
the changes, I do. And that's why we're
2:15
10 minutes late on what's happening. 10
2:17
years late on what's happening. So,
2:19
we're trying to do the right thing on
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this council.
2:21
>> So, council president, if I could
2:22
respond to Mr. P reference emails that I
2:24
that I that I wrote. Yes, I stand by
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them. So, I've been coming to council
2:27
meetings for close to nine years.
2:29
There's very few residents in this room
2:30
who came for nine years. One of them is
2:31
sitting in the back. Um, and I disagree
2:33
with many many of the comments that were
2:35
said over the years, but one thing that
2:37
that stood that I very much admired was
2:40
the persistence and understanding of the
2:42
issues. For many many years, um,
2:44
residents came to complain about various
2:46
code issues and yes, illegal rentals.
2:48
Um, people have the right to put a house
2:50
under whatever LLC they want, but they
2:52
do not have the right to rent out the
2:54
house to multiple families. One house,
2:55
that's illegal. We don't need the
2:56
federal law. That is illegal in Jackson
2:58
law. But the problem is residents came
3:00
since the day I've been sitting on this
3:02
dice. Residents came and been
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complaining. Some of the residents who I
3:05
strongly opposed over the years came,
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they texted me, they called me, Morty,
3:08
what are you going to do differently?
3:09
And our power as council is an oversight
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power. Our power is the power of the
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purse. That is the power the council
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has. And maybe you didn't have proactive
3:17
counsel in the past. But we started
3:19
looking. Yes, I had a problem with code
3:21
enforcement officers who were taking
3:22
cars home for 50 minutes during lunch
3:24
breaks. And when I asked, and again I
3:26
don't want to mention specific names cuz
3:28
there obviously there's certain laws
3:29
when it comes to to personnel. when I
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asked um where the cars were, why they
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were Ireland for two hours, and why is
3:35
it that certain residents, and again,
3:37
some of the residents are here in the
3:38
back, some of them no longer live here,
3:40
and some of them residents mentioned
3:41
names before, has had to send hundreds
3:43
and thousands of emails over the years
3:45
about issues that it's not their job to
3:46
be to be to be looking at. And some of
3:48
the issues I'll agree on, some of them I
3:50
won't I don't agree on. So, yes, I feel
3:53
that it's time to restructure some
3:54
departments in the town. And yes, I'm
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going to do my due diligence. And part
3:57
of my due diligence process is talk to
3:59
the administration and talk to the
4:00
former business administrator and talk
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to the mayor who yes, totally, Morty.
4:04
Yes, I fully agree that code enforcement
4:05
needs to be restructured. And yes,
4:07
talked to our our our former business
4:08
administrator who asked me, Morty, stop
4:10
sending emails because emails will be
4:12
open. I'm not embarrassed by emails. I'm
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proud of my emails. Yes, we had a
4:15
problem in this town. We have close to
4:17
2,000 rentals and I have houses in my
4:20
own neighborhood where I have friends
4:21
and neighbors who have emailed the
4:23
township and it's been a circle. So
4:25
finally we're seeing some productivity
4:26
and I'm happy with that. I'm proud of
4:28
the fact yes to answer your original
4:30
question. I think everyone in the states
4:32
supports code enforcement wants a code
4:33
enforcement. They want to restructure
4:35
code enforcement. Every once in a while
4:36
change isn't easy. Every once in a while
4:38
you have to look and say are we getting
4:39
are are we getting 100 cents in the
4:41
dollar or maybe we're not getting 100
4:42
cents in the dollar. my my opinion
4:44
without talking about specifics because
4:46
there are some great guys and and women
4:48
in in code enforcement, but my my
4:50
opinion wasn't that we weren't getting
4:51
getting our full sometimes you have to
4:53
restructure. Council wasn't looking to
4:55
gut it when it came to rentals and the
4:57
proof in the pudding is that we created
4:58
an entire new ordinance that will be
4:59
selfunded to give people its job is
5:02
literally to sit there checking on the
5:04
inspections. Yes, ma'am in the back. I
5:06
fully support President Trump and is
5:08
something that we're going to be
5:09
requesting from our town attorney to
5:10
look into the federal law and make sure
5:11
that we are complying with the federal
5:13
law because in Jackson County we comply
5:15
with the federal and state laws and if
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we have a contradiction between the
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federal and state law that's where why
5:20
we have good attorneys and it's their
5:21
job to figure it out. So to answer your
5:23
question yes I think everyone in the
5:25
state supports code enforcement and yes
5:27
no one in in this wants to see illegal
5:30
multiple rentals in multiple rooms and
5:32
houses. No one wants to see pool
5:33
rentals. wants to see other illegal
5:35
inappropriate neighbor behavior going on
5:37
in neighbors. But not everything is is
5:39
is just an easy fix. And sometimes you
5:42
have to start from the bottom. And our
5:44
job with the budget is to look at it and
5:46
say, "Hey, are we are we getting
5:48
everything we want? Are we getting our
5:49
DPW? Are we getting our police
5:50
department?" And our town's growing and
5:52
um we have a very large code
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enforcement. And based on the numbers we
5:56
had, my opinion is that we're not
5:58
getting what we deserve.
6:00
>> Thank you, Council. Thank you, sir.
6:02
Thank you.
6:04
I just wanted to uh um you know with
6:08
council vice president Mson support code
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enforcement and
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