In an article in the June Mid-Month edition (4MB PDF) of the Town Courier, Sonya Burke writes about long-standing code violations in City-owned buildings:
In the weeks since the Courier made its formal document request on May 17, several sources say there has been a flurry of repairs relating to some of these outstanding issues, including exit signs being moved, shrubbery being trimmed, and locks being changed. One of the fire code reports released on June 15 was updated when compared to an earlier version also provided by the city and dated 2004. Some of the code issues detailed in the 2004 report had not been addressed at the time of the Courier’s original public records request on May 17. Both documents were officially released by the city just one day before the 30-day public records deadline.
Meanwhile, city inspectors say they have never completed a comprehensive review of all the city’s buildings, a process that was scheduled to begin several years ago. One document obtained by The Town Courier, but not released as part of the public records request, outlines a complete schedule with dates for more fire code inspections of city’s buildings. City officials say it was never completed because inspectors got “real busy” with other construction work. “It fell by the wayside,” said Wes Burnette, Gaithersburg’s permits and inspections director.
Really, read the rest of this article. The Town Courier is available for free at several locations (e.g. in racks at supermarkets) on the west side of Gaithersburg, especially Kentlands and Quince Orchard Park, or you can now download complete issues as PDFs from their website.