By Pauline Masson –
The question of whether to send a code enforcement inspector or a police officer to deal with weeds and grass or other nuisance will be discussed – for the nth time – at Tuesday’s board of adlermen (BOA) meeting.
A decision on effective code enforcement is long overdue according former aldermen Rick Layton, who has been trying for months to get a blocked sidewalk and uncontrolled weeds on one block in his neighborhood corrected.
A company building a senior housing structure on Lisa Lane has blocked off the sidewalk with a chain link fence and a sign warning trespassers not to step inside the fence. Along the length in front of the project, the blocked off sidewalk is being used to store constrction material. On the opposite side of the street, where there is no sidewalk, weeds reach into the roadway, forcing children walking to and from school to walk in the street.
“This is s safety issue,” Layton said. “I didn’t think any one could just block off the sidewalk.”
The former two-term alderman said after numerous calls he recently went to city hall to press for action.
“City hall sent me down to the police department where an officer came out. Then the police chief came out,” Layton said. “They didn’t take me to an office for this discussion. If you have a code enforcement complaint you have to do in the police department lobby. That shocked the heck out of me. It looked like the code enforcement has a hammer and the hammer is the police chief. “
In the end, police sent him back upstairs where there were no answers to the blocked sidewalk.
There has to be a better way to deal with this,” Layton said.
“Having the police enforce code violations is not the best use of city personnel and is too threatening to the citizens,” Layton said. “There used to be a code enforcement officer upstairs in city hall.”
“Code enforcement is corrective, not punitive,” he said. “The property owner should always be given written notice and the opportunity to correct the violation first.”
Layton is not unique in questioning the city’s response to code violations.
Public complaints in meetings and on social media show that residents think code enforcement, which we have to have to preserve the quality of neighborhoods, is not benig handled in a timely manner..
Alderman Debbie Kelley triggered a discussion by aldermen on the topic at the Sept. 6, meeting with a motion to return code enforcement to the administrative office in city hall on the upper level of government center.
She said that the police department is short five officers and it does not appear to be the best use of the limited staff to use the police department to respond to complaints about weeds or other nuisance.
Police Chief Scott Melies said more discussion was needed before his department should relinquish the responsibility of code enforcement. He says there are numersou violations in the city. In one public meeting he said, “We are chasing our tails trying to get these violations cleared up.”
After a lengthy discussion, aldermen tied three to three on Kelley’s motion to return code enforcement upstairs for violations to be dealt with administratively. Kelley, Scott Lesh and Anna Meadows voted in favor or the change. James Cleeve, Rafael Madrigal and Rick Presley voted no.
Mayor Heather Filley broke the tie with a “no” vote, saying she needed more detail.
In an interview with Hometown Matters, City Administrator Harold Selby said there are measures available to the administration to get violations corrected. Selby served as city administrator here from 2006 to 2014 and was recently seated as interim administrator for a year or more as a search for a permanent administrator takes place.
Selby Echoed Layton’s comment that code enforcement should be corrective not punitive.
“What the police can do is to ticket the offender, which includes a fine,” Selby said. “You end up just continuing to fine these people, when we (administration) can take action to correct the violation.”
As an example, Selby cited a burned out building that has been standing on Highland Street since 2017.
“If the enforcment problem with that building is that the court is refusing to act, that means the case is not being prosecuted strongly enough,” Selby said. “ Maybe we need a new prosecutor. Only the aldermen can enact a policy enlisting the court to take stronger action on violations – or appoint a new prosecutor.”
Selby said at one time the city had a policy that if, after proper notification of a weed nuisance, the property owner did not take action the city would hire a professional lawn company, have the grass and weeds cut and place the charge on the property tax bill. He said hiring a company to cut the grass provided a paper trail of the city’s cost to abate the nuisance.
“The police can’t do that,” Selby said. “The administration can.”
Selby also stressed the city has an obligation to both the citizens who complain that code enforcement is ineffective or too slow to act and the property owners where alleged violation exists want fair treatment.
“Both are right,” Selby said. “We need to take timely action and, at the same time, give the property owner a chance to correct the issue.
The subject of Kelley’s request to assign code enforcement to administration is on the Sept. 19 BOA agenda for discussion under the Mayor’s Report.
The only reason the Chief wants to have control of Code Enforcement is to have a ‘tool’ to harass his enemies, those that won’t kowtow to his demands.