Broward County officials have heard enough from condo residents complaining about broken elevators leaving them trapped in their upper-floor apartments for days or even weeks at a time.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, the County Commission voted unanimously to amend its local rules by requiring condo boards to develop and post a plan that tells its residents exactly how it will handle an outage.<\/p>\n
Under current rules, condo associations are not required to tell their residents what will happen if their elevators go out of service. The Broward County Commission passed new rules that go into effect in two weeks.<\/p>\n
Those rules require the condo associations not only to develop a plan disclosing the repair contractor, but also to have a back-up contractor ready to step in if the first contractor is unable to make the repair within 24 hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they don\u2019t post a plan on day one, they can be fined $250. On day two, the fine is $500. And it is $500 a day until the plan is posted,\u201d said County Mayor Mark Bogen.<\/p>\n
No penalties are in place for failure to adhere to the posted plan, Bogen conceded, but the seriousness of the issue and its importance to vulnerable condo-dwellers make it all but certain the issue will be revisited by county government.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who live in condos have reported to us they\u2019ve been stuck on their floor, could be weeks, months because the condo doesn\u2019t fix it,\u201d Bogen said. \u201cThey say they have a service contractor and they\u2019re waiting for a part. We say, call another company that has the part!\u201d<\/p>\n
Bogen\u2019s concern resonated with other members of the commission, all of whom supported the new rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is long overdue,\u201d said Commissioner Nan Rich, who knew of a Sunrise building where a broken elevator was a problem for months. \u201cIt was ridiculous. Something has to be done to protect people who live in situations like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Hazelle Rogers suggested recruiting city governments to bring violations to the attention of the county government. \u201cCities should be the eyes and ears of the county if we can get them to agree to that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The new rule was item 60 on the agenda of Tuesday\u2019s meeting and is available online at the commission\u2019s website Broward.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n