- February 24, 2025
Official wants improvements made
The city is going to be making some changes to code enforcement in the wake of a city commissioner’s statements at the March 3 meeting that he was receiving too many complaints from residents.
“We need to be responsive to residents who suffer from nuisances that violate our codes,” said Commissioner Bill Partington. “There’s no particular case that started this.”
Partington said he’d like to see quicker notification of offenders. Currently, the city sends out a certified letter, and waits up to 30 days for the offender to acknowledge receipt. Partington said he’d like to see a process server hand deliver the notice.
He said he would also like to see an improvement to the city’s website, saying that other cities had phone numbers, email address and clearly spelled-out the department policies.
City Manager Joyce Shanahan said improving the website is “absolutely” something the city can do.
If an offender does not fix a code violation, they must appear before a special magistrate. City Attorney Randy Hayes said the key to speeding up the process would be to schedule the special magistrate hearings more often.
“The special magistrate meets once a month,” he said. “You could change that to once a week. That way you don’t have to wait 30 days to see the magistrate.”
City Commissioner James Stowers said the amount of the fine could be a factor in enforcing the codes. He said it is up to the discretion of the magistrate on the amount of the fine, and suggested the city develop a priority list of offenses that should be at the higher range. He said he has been to some code enforcement hearings and felt an offense should have gotten a much heavier fine than it did.
Partington said he has had complaints about repeat offenders, and he would like the process speeded up in those cases. City ordinances allow code enforcement to order a repeat offender directly to a special magistrate, without a cure period. Fines can also be increased.
Most of the code enforcement measures are dictated by state statute, but Hayes suggested that the city make some operational changes in addition to having more frequent magistrate hearings.
“If that doesn’t work, we can come back and visit other options,” he said.
After the meeting, Partington said he will be looking for improvements.
Joanne Naumann, neighborhood improvement manager, said that the process of notification has been speeded up recently. Her department is notified online as soon as a person signs for delivery, rather than waiting for return mail.
If receipt is not acknowledged in 30 days, the department physically posts the notice at the property.
She said there were 5,219 code inspections in fiscal year 2014, and 151 cases had to go to a magistrate before they were resolved.
Code enforcement is complaint driven, which means that officers only inspect properties when notified by a resident. There are cases where code enforcement will take action without a complaint, such as illegal signs, construction work and situations that present a danger such as unsecured swimming pools.
Complaints can be anonymous, but if a person leaves their name in a phone message, then it’s public record. Emails are also public record.
City Manager Joyce Shanahan said some infractions are difficult, such as a person not cleaning up after their dog, because they have to be caught in the act. But she said if a neighbor complains they can use “community policing”
“We go talk to them and try to gain compliance,” she said.
Shanahan said that staff is looking at all of Partington’s suggestions.
“We heard him loud and clear,” she said.
