Liggett faces more fines
CONNELLSVILLE – More fines were levied Wednesday against downtown Brownsville property owner Ernest Liggett. Magisterial District Judge Ronald Haggerty found Liggett guilty of building code violations at three properties, fining him $100 a day from May 23 through June 27, or $3,500 plus court cost for each property.
“This is another chapter in the continuing saga of Mr. Liggett,” Haggerty said as the hearing began.
Haggerty, a month ago, found Liggett guilty of violations at the same sites plus one other and fined him $12,000 plus court costs in those cases. Liggett’s attorney, Lee Grimm, has appealed that conviction.
“We will be appealing these as well,” Grimm said of Wednesday’s verdict.
Brownsville Borough solicitor Melinda Dellarose withdrew charges against Liggett’s wife, Marilyn Liggett, who is co-owner of the buildings. She also withdrew charges related to a property owned by the Liggetts’ company, Alpha Financial, because repairs have been made since the citation was issued.
Charges against Liggett remained regarding properties at 17-19 Market St., 39 Market St. and 56 Market St. The first two structures have been condemned, and Liggett was ordered to either repair them or tear them down, neither of which has been done, code enforcement officer Don Baugh testified.
The building at 56 Market St. has missing glazing and missing windowpanes and an overhanging ventilation pipe that Baugh said is deteriorated and poses a threat to the public if it were to fall.
Two expert witnesses were called for Liggett’s defense. The first was Henry Hegerle, who is a retired engineer who reviewed building plans for code compliance for the city of Pittsburgh. Hegerle said his duties had included training inspectors and he is himself certified in residential and commercial building inspection.
Baugh testified that he has taken various state-offered courses and has worked in building inspection for the past 14 years, but is not a certified inspector. Hegerle testified that without the proper registration or certification, Baugh is not qualified to file citations under the Uniform Construction Code (UCC).
Dellarose noted that the citations were issued under the International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC), which has been adopted by the borough for building maintenance, while the UCC is administered by the county in connection with new construction.
“The state did not specifically adopt the property maintenance code under pressure from the municipalities who said they didn’t want it,” Hegerle said. “You cannot issue citations under the International Property Maintenance Code if you don’t understand the Uniform Construction Code.”
It was Hegerle’s contention that although the state did not adopt the IPMC, since the maintenance code refers to the construction code and the construction code requires certification of inspectors, code enforcement officers inspecting buildings for code violations also had to be certified.
Hegerle said he has not seen or inspected Liggett’s properties and cannot say whether they are in compliance with the maintenance code.
“I’m not saying that. I’m saying that the individual citing does not have the authority to say that,” Hegerle said.
Grimm also called Robert Conway, a consulting structural engineer to testify. Conway of Bethel Park said he inspected three buildings: 17-19 Market St. and 39/41 Market St., which includes two buildings on one parcel and was listed on the citation as 39 Market St.
Conway said he looked into 17-19 Market St.
“The floor is gone and the roof is off. The debris is laying in the basement. In our opinion, it was stable, structurally sound and not a danger of further collapse,” Conway said.
Conway testified that 39 and 41 Market St. were also stable and could be repaired.
“The building itself is stable. The floors are down and obviously in need of repair,” Conway said.
Conway said the building is not a danger to the public in that it is not occupied.
“Any contractor, the first thing they would do is clean that up and make it safe to work,” Conway said.
Hegerle noted that the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry oversees the UCC and the certification and registration of building inspectors. Contacted following the hearing, Rebecca Halton of the Department of Labor and Industry said that Brownsville has opted to oversee its own code enforcement.
“It would be up to the municipality to certify its officials. Uniform Construction Code certification is not required for International Property Maintenance Code inspectors,” Halton said.