Landlord of James Street building in court for other property violations
UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - The landlord of the James Street building that went up in flames, killing four people last weekend, appeared in Utica City Court Monday morning - but not for anything related to the fire.
Timothy Klotz pleaded guilty for failing to register three of his rental properties that have tenants in them with the fire department. Klotz's lawyer said he did register the buildings on Friday, including one on Oneida Street. However, Klotz still has to pay a $1,500 fine for not doing it sooner. Klotz also pleaded guilty Monday morning to failing to register four vacant properties. His lawyer said he hopes Klotz will register those buildings before his next court appearance on Monday. Several of Klotz' properties have come into question, following the fatal James Street fire last weekend. Survivors were moving through the wreckage last week, salvaging whatever belongings they could from the burned building. Klotz was there, too. We asked him then to respond to city claims that this building was not registered with the city to be inspected. "The truth will come out," Klotz said last week, followed simply by "no comment." Klotz owed the city more than $100,000 in back taxes on several properties. Why didn't the city try to take them for back taxes? They did - 11 of them. But a law passed in 2007 made it easier for homeowners to fight those efforts and Klotz did, tying it up in court. He claims he doesn't even own four of those properties any more, but officials in the City of Utica Comptroller's office say he did. "As far as the city is concerned, he does own it until the new owner files a deed with both the county clerk's office and the city assessors office," said Ronald MacMaster of the City Comptroller's Office last week. "Because there is a difference between being an owner and an owner of record." Klotz has also, apparently, left a trail of run-down buildings, codes violations and unpaid fines in another state. The Daily Item newspaper of Lynn, Massachusetts, reports that the city of Lynn is still trying to collect $8000 in unpaid fines for codes violations from Timothy Klotz. They say violations in 2007 included Klotz's failure to correct a blocked doorway in a building's rear hallway, and failure to repair broken smoke detectors. Also of interest to local officials is the fact that Klotz has sold several Utica properties to a man in Massachusetts, Michael Cipriano. Of particular interest: why Klotz would sell two buildings he purchased for more than $600,000, 215 and 401 Rutger Street, for just $1. There are several, less valuable buildings in Utica which city records show Klotz sold to Cipriano. Among them, 815-817 McVean Street. When we asked "Robert," a tenant of the building, the name of his landlord, he replied, "Tim Klotz." Robert said he'd never heard of Cipriano. |
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