After Complaints, Some Homes Fixed

County officials appear to have completed corrective repairs at several homes where potentially dangerous rehabilitation work was performed by contractors as part of a county grant program.

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who toured some of the homes last week, said he was informed this week by the Housing and Redevelopment Department that repairs have been completed.

Residents had complained that contractors performed shoddy work, such as incorrectly installing water heaters and wiring. County officials are now inspecting hundreds of homes that received rehabilitation work to determine whether the jobs were done correctly.

Later this month, the Board of Supervisors will receive a report from Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier on how officials handled the allegations of shoddy work.

Spitzer has complained that a county memo prepared in August outlined the problems but that supervisors didn’t get the memo until a few weeks ago.

“We have to determine why communication broke down,” he said. “Something went wrong and we have to determine who was responsible.”