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Regular Council Meeting January 23, 2012 Page 4 Street location. After the collapse of that building, Mr. Anderson instructed code enforcement to do a visual survey of the downtown area to determine if there were any other hazards that could potentially be a public safety issue and that those locations had warning tape placed on them and barricaded. Mr. Anderson said that an appropriate reprimand would be issued for prior failure to action. He said that instructions had also been given to conduct Building and Standards Commission meetings on a monthly basis, because the Commission was beneficial to the City. Mr. Anderson said the City was going to investigate the possibility of performing some demolition work itself as a cost savings measure. Mr. Anderson said the City Attorney would update the City Council on what legal means were currently available for the City to deal with dilapidated structures and that the City Attorney would be attending the next Building and Standards Commission meeting to give them an update. Mayor Hashmi inquired if there were any questions. Mr. Anderson answered questions from several Council Members. Mayor Hashmi asked Don Wilson if he had any comments. Mr. Wilson said the Building and Standards Commission was concerned that historically there had not been enough follow-up. He said if the Commission issued an order to demolish or repair a building that it should not be the Staff's decision to decide whether or not the owner had enough money to do it and that the owner should be forced to do something. Mayor Hashmi suggested in the future a complaint of this nature be filed with the department head and/or the City Manager. Mr. Wilson said after the Commission makes a recommendation and nothing happens, that he would like for the Commission to come back and report to the City Council what was and was not done. Mayor Hashmi said he agreed but hoped that after the Commission met, that the work would be completed. Council Member McCarthy arrived at 6:08 p.m. As reported in a briefing earlier in September, City Attorney Kent McIlyar said that the Texas Supreme Court ruled on a Building and Standards Commission case out of the City of Dallas. He said that the City of Dallas Commission was similar to the City of Paris Building and Standards Commission, in that they were based upon the same State Law. Mr. McIlyar stated that the Court in the Dallas case changed thirty, forty, fifty years of jurisprudence in the State of Texas and up until this summer, cities were given the authority under State Law to create Buildings and Standards Commissions, appoint members and have those Commissions determine based upon the evidence presented at their hearings, whether or not structures on property were a public nuisance. In the event that they found that these structures were dangerous or hazardous to the public, they were allowed by State Law to issue a demolition order requiring demolition of the property. If the structure was not demolished by the property owner as often the case, it gave the City the right to tear it down and assess a lien against the property for the costs of demolition. Mr. McIlyar said that had been the legal process for thirty, forty, fifty years. Mr. McIlyar said the City of Dallas case involved a residential structure that had been abandoned for ten years and had a fallen tree on top of it. He told Council that the case in Dallas went through the City of Dallas' Building and Standards Commission and they ordered it demolished. Mr. McIlyar said the Texas Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision held that only a judicial court independent of the City of Dallas was allowed to determine whether or not a property was a public nuisance and may be demolished by the City. The Court further ruled that 5