Spring Valley mayor urges more inspectors after fires

SPRING VALLEY – Following multiple fires and complaints of numerous housing violations, Mayor Demeza Delhomme said Sunday he wants more village fire and building inspectors in order to ensure safe housing and combat illegal conversions and schools.

Delhomme, a first-term mayor and longtime trustee, said he will ask the Spring Valley Board of Trustees to hire four more part-time fire inspectors and fill 10 positions in the building department.

"The fires and housing issues have become a disaster," he said. "We can't wait another day before people die and we have a catastrophe. We can no longer sit and watch as the village burns down. I inherited this. I have to fix it."

Trustees Vilair Fonvil, Emilia White and Asher Grossman have a board majority. Fonvil and White didn't return telephone calls for comment.

Ramapo and Spring Valley, a 2 1/2-square-mile village, have been under scrutiny over building and fire code enforcement. The state codes bureau has inspected properties with multiple violations in both municipalities at the insistence of local firefighters and Rockland Fire Coordinator Gordon Wren Jr. The state has yet to take action after months of work. Wren said Sunday he's cautiously optimistic about Delhomme's overture.

A suspicious fire destroyed a 2 1/2-story house Thursday with an illegal yeshiva dormitory on East Funston Drive. The fire started on the back porch, and the building lacked a certificate of occupancy and was littered with electrical violations, village officials said.

Eight families including children and a newborn were left homeless when flames destroyed a house at 35 Johnson St. on Saturday morning. Inspectors and firefighters found the house had been illegally divided into rooms and lacked working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Tenants told officials they paid rent in cash of up to $1,500 for one floor and $600 for one room and $300 for a room on the lower level. The owner, Admas Koidesh Realty Inc. of 16 Francis Place, Monsey, was looking to tear down the building.

Delhomme set a board meeting for 2 p.m. Monday. The issue has been discussed before without any action. Wren said he spoke to the Board of Trustees nearly three years ago at the behest of firefighters about hiring more inspectors and charging a higher fee for inspections of businesses and large housing complexes. The fees and fines would more than pay for the inspectors, he said.

"Actions speak louder than words," Wren said. "Right now we have poor people with children in many places living in these hellholes and landlords making thousands and thousands of dollars in profit. They need to do something before people die."

Delhomme last week suspended the chief building inspector, Walter Booker, after a policy dispute.

Delhomme said he wants fire inspector Frank Youngman moved from part-time to full-time, though as a retired police officer on a pension that could prove problematic. The mayor said he wants ranking firefighter Ray Canero moved from public works to full-time fire inspector and Rex Faison appointed part-time chief building inspector.

He also wants to hire inspectors and code enforcement officers who speak Spanish, French-Creole and Yiddish. Some businesses and large rental complexes have gone years without being inspected.

Wren, a former Ramapo building inspector, also said the village and Ramapo need to prosecute violations and judges should hand out significant fines and possible jail sentences for repeat offenders. He noted one Spring Valley landlord, Joseph Klein, had dozens of violations on multiple properties and got fined $20,000. Wren said Klein, a repeat offender, was allowed to pay off the fines at $1,000 a month.