The 8,000 companies doing business with the city have been warned by Mayor Roxanne Qualls:
Abide by the law or lose your contracts.
Mayor Qualls pushed an ordinance through city council last week that says vendors breach their contracts with the city when they violate laws, such as building codes or dumping regulations, or if they fail to make corrections when cited or fail to pay fines. "The purpose of the ordinance is to stop those companies doing business with the city from flagrantly violating city laws," Mayor Qualls said.
She said the ordinance distinguishes between a contractor who actively breaks local laws and the contractor who assumes existing violations in order to correct them as part of the contract.
"A contractor who buys a dilapidated building in order to rehabilitate it for the city is not breaching a contract," she said. "The goal is to discourage contractors from destroying our neighborhoods, not discourage them from improving our neighborhoods."
The mayor said complaints about the Keesh Construction Co. in South Cumminsville and how the company responded to citations led her to draft the ordinance. She said residents in the neighborhood have complained to her office that the company is illegally dumping. "This company has contracts with the city totaling $6 million," Mayor Qualls said. "According to inspectors from the Building and Inspection Department, other companies who have contracts with the city also violate codes."
William Langevin, director of the Building and Inspection Department, said Keesh Construction has been doing extensive excavation at 3605 Dawson Ave. without a permit.
Residents in the area complained that trucks come in and out hauling dirt and that the dirt falls off onto the street and gets into the air.
Some complained that they can't open their windows when the trucks come through loaded with dirt.
"Large hunks of dirt fall from the dump trucks onto Dawson Avenue, leaving the street full of dirt, which settles into the people's homes making them almost unlivable," said Jack McWilliams, president of the South Cumminsville Community Council.
Mr. McWilliams filed a formal complaint with the city on June 5. He said Keesh Edwards, owner of the company, has shown disregard for city building code regulations, ignored citations and failed to pay fines.
"How can the city continue to contract with an outlaw contractor who neither respects the city or its citizens?" Mr. McWilliams said. Mr. Langevin said Keesh Construction was given a fill permit in March 1995 to excavate 1,500 cubic yards at the site.
"In January 1997, he had exceeded the limitation," Mr. Langevin said. Mr. Edwards was told to stop excavating.
By November 1997, the company owed the city $1,000 in fines and penalties, Mr. Langevin said.
Mr Edwards' request for a new fill permit was rejected in December 1997 and he was subsequently fined another $500 for continuing to excavate without a permit, Mr. Langevin said.
"I think the new ordinance giving the city the right to revoke contracts is the proper step to take," Mr. Langevin said.
City records show that Keesh Construction has 10 contracts with three city departments totaling $6,634,968.12.
Mr. Edwards said he thinks the city and newspapers are targeting him because he is a minority.
"We have not gone outside our property to dump anything," Mr. Edwards said. He said he has not dumped anything on the site since he was told not to. He said he applied for a fill permit which he received Wednesday. With the permit, he can cut and fill 15,627 cubic yards. "This site is typical of any construction site in Cincinnati, but nobody picks on the others as they do us. Where do they expect black businesses to go? Are they trying to drive us out of business?" Mr. Edwards said.
