BETHALTO – An emergency meeting regarding crime-free housing was held at the Village of Bethalto Monday evening following two investigations by the Bethalto Police Department.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Bethalto Police Chief Craig Welch said the investigations stem from calls from Metro Apartments alerting the department they had been paid for $3,200 worth of occupancy inspections. Welch said this investigation opened on Feb. 20 of this year, saying his department found evidence of three inspections being done. Further investigations on March 9 led to the condemnation of Building 151 in the Metro Apartments complex on Chateau. As many as 13 people from three families were left without a home following that condemnation.
Those families spoke at the Monday meeting. Welch said they recounted stories of calling Metro Apartments for roof maintenance only to have a tarp placed across their roof. This caused leakage into some of the building's electrical areas.
“There's plenty of blame to go around on this,” Welch said after being asked about the blame. “I made suggestions about how things could be changed. Instead of placing blame, we try to offer solutions.”
As of Monday, one of those solutions is placing an officer from the Bethalto Police Department with the village's zoning inspector. Welch said he has been asked by the village to enforce some of the existing laws and ordinances on the books with his available resources. He also wanted to push for crime-free housing legislation for the village, which is currently not on the books.
Since assigning the officer with the zoning administrator, who Welch said was “overwhelmed” at the amount of work needed to set things right, the chief said several infractions have been sighted, including camping trailers being illegally placed at trailer courts. A current village ordinance forbids this practice.
“It can only be a good thing that we better enforce our codes, zoning and ordinances,” Welch said. “I am not sure why they were not being enforced before. The Bethalto Police Department is just now getting involved with the zoning administrator.”
Welch said he has requested the elected officials of the village hire at least one additional officer to continue operating the Bethalto Police Department effectively. One officer off the beat in his department could be detrimental to the amount of police work being done within the village.
“We have had 22 people die of overdoses, it's a significant issue, but those numbers are not inconsistent with the area,” Welch said.
As for the people pushed from their living situations by the condemnation of building 151 operated by Metro Apartments, Welch said they were staying with relatives, adding his department ensured they all had someplace to go. He said they were still in contact with them as well.
A call to the village offices has not been received at this time, and further updates may be released when that call is returned.
More like this:
