BP CODE ATTACK

This is a lengthy post, so “mute” or move on now … or refill your coffee and have a seat. You may not like everything you read, but you need to know how BP operates these days before you’re the next victim.

Last week, my husband and I were the victims of attacks from BP Code, and as a result I’ve requested the immediate termination of Code Officer Christina Caserta. BP residents need to be aware of the unscrupulous methods this village employee uses to intimidate and threaten residents who complain about Code or other village matters. Whether Caserta schemed up these attacks on her own or at the behest of her boss, Village Manager Krishan Manners, or Mayor Tracy Truppman remains to be determined. I am an outspoken critic of them both, most notably at commission meetings where I’m a member of the chorus pointing out their shortcomings/violations and calling for them to step down or be terminated. If you’re labeled a “complainiac” by village leaders, the hired help or their minions, be prepared to take them on the way my husband and I have been forced to for the past year. That culminated in an explosive Code Compliance meeting this past Thursday from which Caserta stormed out in an epic hissy fit unbecoming a village employee and costing the village money in the process.

Here’s the quick version of an ugly story that’s been unfolding for the past year.

As is my right, I complain about goings-on in this village: where I live peacefully with my husband; in which we’ve invested many hundreds of thousands of dollars in a home we love; where we follow the rules closely and pay our exorbitant tax bill; where we volunteer as board members and at village events; where we donate money for projects; and, most notably, where we complain about the sad state of code enforcement. We maintain our home to very high personal standards (drive past and take a look; wave hello when you see me gardening every weekend), but we expect other residents to merely meet the minimum requirements as set by current code. That’s the “contract” by which we all live in this or any community: meet the minimum standards. Those standards do not include dangerous construction sites open to the street (pools with no fences; rusty rebar sticking out of deep, open trenches), cars parked on lawns and properties strewn with trash.

At the risk of sounding like a persnickety old queer, that’s just not good enough, and more importantly it fails to meet our minimum code requirements that should keep our VERY expensive village looking good. Those codes already exist, but our village manager and code officer have made a very clear choice to not enforce them, at least not evenly. And, if you point out dangerous violations, they ignore you … and eventually they target you with the power of code that they selectively enforce.

In the past year, we have been given three warnings for code violations that were completely bogus. Those code warnings included a dirty roof that we had already had professionally cleaned and which I had reported to them. Caserta also warned us about a pile of garden soil in a permitted project that she had specifically directed to be placed there (in Spanish to the contractor operating the backhoe in our driveway). Yup, at my request she visited the site to help me make sure we stayed in compliance, then she told the guy in Spanish (I don’t speak Spanish) where to move the pile … so she could return and warn us about it. That’s how that unethical village employee operates. What she didn’t count on was this resident pushes back on bullies. I have a low tolerance threshold for abuse of power, so she got a big face full of Mac in an email to her boss in which I disclosed her bullying tactics. Of course, she backed off with her tail between her legs and sorta apologized for being “overzealous.” As if. If Caserta were “overzealous” about her work, this village would be pristine instead of boasting entire streets that make Appalachia look like Mar-a-Lago.

Worth mentioning that these warnings from Caserta came on the heels of an email my husband sent to the village about Caserta’s poor job performance. Her response to that email the very next day was a fistful of warnings, and that day we knew we were her target. Our only question was whether she decided to target us on her own or at the direction of Krishan Manners and/or Tracy Truppman.

Caserta’s attack on us came to a head two weeks ago when we received two official, legal notices from the city to appear before the Code Compliance Board for installing a fence without a permit. If you’ve never received one of those notices, they’re rather intimidating and include warnings about fines of $500/day and a separate fine of $5,000. The notice is taped to your house (charming site for neighbors to see) and delivered via certified mail that requires your signature. Although we knew the charge was without merit (we installed that fence 3-1/2 years ago with a permit, which I located in my files), we took the matter very seriously and prepared our defense with documents, photos and all relevant details. We knew Caserta was gunning for us, and we were prepared. I cancelled a business trip to appear before the board, and Dan and I showed up as ordered at 7p last Thursday at the Log Cabin.

We walked in to be informed by Caserta that she had dropped our case and we were not on the agenda. We could leave the meeting we had prepared for and for which I had canceled a business trip ... just that casually. She had made up a bogus violation (she later admitted she had the permit we were charged with not having), she caused me to cancel a business trip and wasted our time in preparing, then she chose not to tell us the case was dropped and we didn’t need to come, even though she had notified us twice to appear. (I had emailed Caserta personally to question the violation, to which she never replied, in true BP style.) Well, we were there as ordered and demanded that our case be heard because we wanted answers as to the origins of this bogus violation. We don’t tolerate bullies.

Caserta stammered and stumbled through a disjointed response to the board and us about why the case started in the first place and why she chose not to tell us it had been dropped, trying her best to make something, anything, stick. She looked like a fool and she knew it. It was a pathetic and transparent display of abuse of power, and she wasn't nearly as good defending or explaining it as she was doing it. We volunteered to push our item to the end of the agenda in the interest of expediting the meeting for the other residents in attendance.

The very first case involved another property owner whose time had also been wasted by our code officer, so that started another ridiculous encounter with Caserta who couldn’t string together a cohesive thought. At that point, she knew her incompetence has been revealed (and our case was still coming, with us sitting patiently with a stack of evidence and my laptop fired up), so she stood us in a teen-worthy hissy fit and abruptly ended the meeting before ANY cases could be heard. She grabbed her audio recorder and papers and directed the board and residents to leave, getting a bit of a tongue-lashing in the process. She wasted village resources and the time of the volunteer board and residents who reported as she directed, all because she had been caught in the act of abusing her power as Code Officer. Twice during her tirade, she threatened to quit (which Dan and I wholeheartedly supported) while uttering things as strange as "You're not my father" and "You're not my employer." (Given that my taxes pay her salary, I kinda am.) She also told me to complain on Nextdoor if I didn’t like it, so I suppose that means I’m here following her orders again by posting on a public blog. (I posted this same message on ND this morning.) She gave equally disrespectful and petulant answers to questions posed by board members, all tax-paying village residents and volunteers.

Christina Caserta has a history of failing to do her job properly (look around), failing to adequately communicate, and, most egregiously, using her powers as a Code Officer to intimidate and to threaten, most recently this past Thursday night at the village Code Compliance meeting. Her tactics are not working, and for those attempts she should be fired immediately “with cause.” That's not how you treat residents who pay their taxes and follow the rules. My husband and I fully expect to be her targets again, even more so as a result of Thursday night’s encounter, of our official complaint the next day and of this post. We aren’t impressed or intimidated, and we hope you aren’t either when she comes after you.