On Abandoned Houses and Open-Ended Contracts

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The ugly view of abandoned homes is really getting worse by the day. More and more homes fall in disrepair -- and nobody seems to care. And despite the attempts of code enforcement to fight these ugly land marks, it is like fighting windmills.

Second only to Detroit in the number of vacant homes, 6.7%, it's been a year since Palm Beach County began requiring banks to pay $150 to register their foreclosures. Nearly $1.4 million has been collected, and officers slogging through foreclosure inventory are happy to now know who to contact when a property sours.

This article describes another attempt of code enforcement to solve this problem.Source:  Cyber Citizens for Justice

Foreclosure registry aids code enforcement, but can't overcome all obstacles

And we certainly agree that we need to "clean up this mess." However, this is not the fault of any city commissioner nor is it the fault of any commission. It is also not the fault of staff (because of open-ended contracts) as the local newspaper wants to suggest.

Open ended contracts were given to some employees which means that the City Manager can fire at will without cause, and there is no waiting until a contract expires to rid the city of a non-union worker. At-will means that an employer can terminate an employee at any time for any reason, except an illegal one, or for no reason without incurring legal liability.  Likewise, an employee is free to leave a job at any time for any or no reason with no adverse legal consequences.

Let's start putting the blame where it belongs in this city instead of constantly playing bad politics to make bogus points that are often laughable at best or just made to sensationalize or sell newspapers.