GOWANDA — The village is facing a lawsuit put forth by Dorothy Myers Watson of Tonawanda and William Worden Watson Jr. of North Tonawanda stemming from an alleged illegal inspection and entry done by the code enforcement officer.

The mother and son are rental property owners throughout Western New York, owning multiple residences and apartments. The team bought a property in Gowanda in 2018, closing on it in October of that year. Only 11 months later, in September 2019, the building was condemned and remains condemned to this date.

Now, the Watsons are suing the village.

On Oct. 27, the New York State Courts Electronic Filing System received a notice of claim from the pair, laying out a summary of what they are suing for and why. Their claims include an illegal entry by a village employee, a village employee giving their key to the building away, unreasonable building code and health code violations, criminal charges because of these unanswered violations, and unfair condemnation of their property.

The apartment building owners are asking the state Supreme Court in Erie County to allow a late claim filing because the claims began to accrue on or before July 31, 2019, the date of the fire inspection. They argue that the village had actual notice of the essential facts in the Watson’s claims, which their attorneys argue means there is no harm to the village if the court grants permission to file a late notice of claim.

THE ARGUMENT

The story is, according to the Watsons, that after they bought the property, they were rehabilitating apartments one by one, once a month, when William Watson eventually came across a suspected meth lab on the third floor of the building. Immediately, he went across the street to the Gowanda Police Station to report it, where a police officer promptly went to check out the situation and gather evidence.

It is alleged Dennis Feldmann, police chief, told the pair that he wanted to set up a surveillance camera on the third floor to catch the perpetrator. To do this, he needed access to the property at a later date, which is why Dorothy Watson provided Feldmann with a master key to enter the property, as she would be out of town. The stipulations to giving him the key were that he had to notify her whenever it was used, to enter only the attic, to return the key after identifying the person responsible for the meth lab, and to only allow village employees to use the key. Feldmann apparently agreed to these terms.

“Because I was out of town, I gave him a key, a master key to all of the apartments, and with the instruction that it was only to be used in reference to a possible arrest for drug use,” she said during her deposition.

During their depositions, both Watsons agreed there was never any camera or surveillance gear set up and the perpetrator, who they believed to be the tenant living in one of the apartments, was never arrested or charged.

“At one time I did speak to another police officer. … I asked him what was going on,” she said. “He told me that ‘Oh, they had so many people in jail, they didn’t want any more.’ Nothing was going on and nothing was going to happen regarding the manufacture of crystal meth.”

In between that event and the illegal entry into the property, the Watsons are claiming that Feldmann gave away their master key to Brecker, code enforcement officer for the village. The pair allege that Brecker took the key and illegally entered the property and conducted a “fire inspection” without notifying or asking the Watsons permission to enter the property and did not have a warrant to do the inspection.

“He promised me that when he took the key that it would be kept locked in his desk and no one would have any access to the key to that building except him,” Dorothy Watson said. When trying to get her key back, Feldmann alleged that he lost it. “I left numerous messages asking for my key back. It was never given back. … I assume he (Brecker) used a key that Officer Feldmann gave him. … This building was really secure and he had a key to every apartment and he used it. He was seen using a key to get in.”

This inspection that Brecker executed on July 31, 2019, came about with various building and health code violations. Dorothy was sent a letter about the violations on Aug. 8, 2019, but she was out of town at the time and though William is on the deed of the house, he was not notified of the violations.

This is being questioned by the Watsons because on Aug. 13, 2019 Belmont conducted its annual inspection of the property and found no violations at the property.

The violations ended up being late since Dorothy was out of town during the whole ordeal and she ended up being charged criminally for failing to remediate the alleged violations. The charges were dropped eventually, but not until Jan. 20, 2020, a month after she got an attorney.

Ultimately, the property ended up being condemned by the village on Sept. 10, 2019 and has been since. The Watsons still have not gotten an answer as to what needs to be fixed to remove the condemnation status, according to them.

“If they had an issue with the building, they should have told me what the issue was,” Dorothy Watson said.