Alvaro De Leon likens it to doing detective work.

The chief building official for the city of Mercedes in this case is looking to track down the owners of abandoned homes and buildings in the city. De Leon knows the process well. He spent 11 years in the city of Pharr doing the same sort of work. In Mercedes, where he has worked for over a year, he was hired by City Manager Albert Perez to address a lingering problem in the community.

“It was very obvious in driving around the city,’’ De Leon said of the volume of older homes left abandoned by their owners in Mercedes.

He got busy doing his detective work. De Leon in working with a City Commission-appointed condemnation board began identifying these neglected homes in Mercedes. He got addresses and cross-checked them with the county’s appraisal district and the appropriate tax offices to identify owners of the deserted homes. Google searches and use of social media at times provides good information.

Once identified and reached, the owners of abandoned homes are reminded by De Leon that they are responsible under the city’s building codes to properly maintain their properties. If current with their property taxes, he makes a central point to owners of neglected properties.

“I tell them that they’re paying taxes for something that’s of no value,’’ he said. “If they remodel, those properties will have real value again after they are brought up to code.’’

Demolishing the abandoned homes is the other option after such cases are reviewed by the condemnation board and go through a legal process to determine that outcome. In any case, De Leon and the city want to make the community aware that Mercedes will no longer allow neglected homes to stand indefinitely.

“The word is out there,’’ he said. “This is good for the city and it’s all part of making improvements as Mercedes welcomes growth and investment in our community.’’

`Practical Approach’

A recent presentation to the City Commission shows the progress that it is being made.

De Leon pointed to the over 40 homes around town that have been remodeled or demolished over the last 12-plus months in the city. He highlighted a number of before and after home remodels and demolitions in all parts of the city and most especially in older neighborhoods.

One such project on north Texas Avenue shows the before photo of a long-abandoned wooden home with its white paint long flaked under the sun to a new home built in its place with a freshly paved concrete driveway leading to covered parking. Another project found on Nevada Street shows an old house about to lean over and collapse that has been replaced by a new two-story home with attractive landscaping.

De Leon calls it “taking a practical approach’’ in working with all parties to trying to revive old properties. The chief building official and the city works patiently with owners that show a willingness to improve abandoned properties.

“The city is taking it in little steps and moving in the right direction,’’ De Leon said of addressing the issue of abandoned residential and commercial buildings in Mercedes. “We’re working to clean up the community with the work we’re doing and helping to bring in new investors and families to the city.’’

For a city experiencing its best business growth and development in years – and with more to come soon in a surge of retail development – the work being done out of the chief building office can only further improve Mercedes’ standing with investors and families.

• Ric Cavazos