EKIN CITY COUNCIL FAILS CITIZEN Robert Bramham home located at 2108 Velde Drive in Pekin Story and Photos by Publisher Ed Emmons At the January 13th meeting of this year, a resident of Pekin (Robert Bramham) spoke to the city council concerning the city inspection department authorizing he and his wife to move into a newly constructed home, meaning, the home was safe and met city building codes. Mr. Bramham appears to have proof that the home was not built to code and city inspection records were falsified, putting he and his wife in physical and financial danger. The mayor refused to answer his questions at the meeting. Certificate of Occupancy issued by the City of Pekin April 26, 2013 After moving into the house at 2108 Velde Drive in late April of 2013, he began to find various code violation that eventually caused him to go to city hall in mid-last summer, and asked for the list of problems the inspection department had found that should have been repaired before the city authorized his occupancy. There were no records of any problems found by the city or any corrections being verified, and, there was no city certificate stating that the house was ready for him to move in. Upon asking the city manager about the lack of records of city inspections, Mr. Bramham received a back-dated (4/26/2013) occupancy certificate in November of 2013, signed by the chief inspector, who never inspected the property. Last fall, Mr. Bramham hired a well known structural engineering company to inspect his home, the city also uses this company frequently. Some of the city code violations that has been found, after being told his house was safe by city inspectors, is, the ceiling above the main floor is not attached to the outside walls. Meaning that undo stress causing the walls to move could cause the ceiling to fall on Bramham and his wife. The kill switch for his furnace in case of fire or emergency is not accessible. There is no drywall for fire protection in the utility room. There appears to be insufficient and carelessly placed foundation anchor bolts. Gas lines are not properly clamped to prevent rupturing. Left: Gas lines in attic not properly clamped to prevent rupturing Right: Drywall missing in utility room for fire protection. Left: Out of reach furnace kill switch in case of fire or emergency Right: No anchor next to door in middle of split baseplate. Insufficient and carelessly placed foundation anchor bolts. Left: Ceiling above the main floor is not attached to the outside walls Again at the January 27th and 29th council meetings, Mr. Bramham asked the city to resend the falsified inspection department certificate to allow him to seek relief and code repairs from the apparent shoddy construction work by a well known local company, but the mayor and manager refused. Are they afraid that resending the fake certificate would be proof of city inspectors being derelict in there duties, and putting the city at risk for being sued. More reason to believe the city is trying dodge responsibility is, the city attorney has suggested that no city employees or council members go to Mr. Bramham property. What this means is, the elected people that are suppose to be advocates for taxpayers, are being told not to investigate and help a taxpaying citizen. What do we have council members for? How can they make honest decisions if they wont check out facts? What kind of un-American city government do we have here in Pekin??? Adding insult to injury to Mr. Bramham, the city notified him in late 2013, that he needed to move his motor home from his concrete dive-way. He complied and put it on cement blocks, exactly per city ordinance, next to his home. Four days after his first visit to the council meeting, the city issued him a citation for improper parking of his motor home. They want him to build a concrete slab, that is not required by city ordinance. It appears harassment by the city inspections department is payback for exposing them for being incompetent. Mr. Bramham welcomes Pekin residents who want to see first hand what city hall and a shoddy home construction company have put him and his wife through, to feel free to stop by and see for themselves, that would also include Mr. Bramhams elected council members, if they are interested in doing their jobs. Mr. Bramham has agreed to update me on which council members show interest in solving his problem, and I will keep readers posted. Also, it should be noted, that both TV taped council meetings that Mr. Bramham spoke at, has strangely had his part erased. Also, dont bother looking in the news paper for reports of his complaints, evidently negative city news is not news.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 13:49:34 +0000
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