By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            A wobbly-looking two-story building in Williston’s Block 12 that partially collapsed during Hurricane Idalia won’t be torn down in a hurry, though the city’s elected officials would probably like to do exactly that.

            Williston City Council members were told by City Attorney Kiersten Ballou Tuesday that using the code enforcement process is the best way to remedy the situation, but it will take time.

            Block 12 is the city’s former downtown business district. It is located opposite City Hall.

            She said information about the condition of the building, which is located on Main Street, will be presented to the Board of Adjustments and Code Enforcement in a meeting or special meeting.

            She said if the code enforcement board gets enough information indicating the building is a safety hazard to the public, it can issue a code violation against the property owner and impose fines and a lien. The city can obtain an engineering analysis on the best course of action to make the building safe.

            The code enforcement board would then give the case to the City Council to consider options.

            “Is one of those options to make it safe by tearing it down?” Ballou was asked after the meeting.

            “If that’s the only option to make it safe, that is the option they’ll have to go with,” Ballou responded. “The engineer will tell us what’s the least invasive way that we can make the property safe.”

            The owner of the property, Michael Pesso, has indicated to city officials that they can do what they want with the property but he refused to sign a document releasing the city from any liability,” said City Manager Terry Bovaird.

            Ballou said the city’s Land Development Code has a section dealing with hazardous buildings but it does not provide for taking any action other than using code enforcement to levy fines and apply liens.

            She said it would take about three months to foreclose on the property, which is an unattractive option.

            Instead, the city will proceed with code enforcement action and cite the owner for having a hazardous building if that’s what the evidence indicates. An engineering analysis can determine whether the building must be razed to protect the public.

            The city currently has closed off the sidewalk in front of the building and one lane of traffic on Main Street as well as a lane of traffic on U.S. 27.

            City Utilities Supervisor Donald Barber said the city had an opportunity long before the hurricane to move forward on code violations for the two-story building on Main Street, but staff was advised by their lawyers to postpone moving forward with code enforcement violations until the city foreclosed on Pesso’s Pawn Shop in a different part of the city. The idea was that it wouldn’t look good taking action on two of Pesso’s buildings at the same time, even though both were in bad shape. He said the back wall of the two-story building, which collapsed during the hurricane, was a code enforcement issue at the time.

            The city recently completed foreclosure on the Pesso’s Pawn Shop property. With that situation resolved, the city then issued a code enforcement violation against the two-story building on Main Street dated June 26, 2023, but there are currently no liens against the property. The collapse of the back wall has created an alleged code violation and public safety hazard in the minds of city officials.

            Resident Albert Fuller asked if the city should make an effort to determine whether Pesso is mentally capable of understanding the code enforcement proceedings, but Ballou said the court would make that determination if it becomes a legal issue, not the city.

            Laura Jones, the city’s planner, is the last city official to speak to Pesso and she indicated he wasn’t interested in cooperating with the city beyond the conversation he had with her.

            Council President Debra Jones said she made an attempt to find Pesso’s daughter on Facebook but was unsuccessful. The city has run out of options for contacting Pesso.

            Jones said several years ago Pesso was cited for code violations on the two-story Main Street building but he made the necessary repairs and paid the fines.

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Photos by Terry Witt:

City of Williston Regular Meeting September 5, 2023; Poste September 6, 2023