Laserfiche WebLink
WORK STUDY SESSION <br /> <br />W.S.A. CODE ENFORCEMENT <br /> <br />Planning and Building Agency Executive Director Robyn Uptegraff briefed the Council on Code <br />Enforcement operations for which her department was primarily responsible and distributed the <br />following handouts: <br /> <br />Property-Related Code Enforcement Responsibility Matrix <br />Community Preservation Section Organization Chart <br />1996 Community Preservation Summary <br />Neighborhood Priority Survey - October 1996 <br /> <br />Public Works Agency Executive Director Jim Ross indicated his Agency's involvement in Code <br />Enforcement was on a lesser scale than the Planning and Building Agency and briefly described Public <br />Works operations regarding abandoned appliances, overgrown vegetation, signs in the public right-of- <br />way, shopping carts, and trash and debris. <br /> <br />Police Chief Paul Walters explained the relationship between code enforcement and crime rates, <br />indicating a lack of code enforcement resulted in higher crime rates, and briefed the Council regarding <br />the Police department's abandoned vehicle abatement process. <br /> <br />Uptegraff~, Ross, Walters, City Attorney Joseph Fletcher and City Manager David Ream responded <br />to questions regarding specific aspects of code enforcement raised by Councilmembers and the public. <br /> <br />The Council developed the following list of policy issues for further discussion: <br /> <br />2. <br />3. <br />4. <br /> <br />9. <br /> 10. <br /> <br />11. <br />12. <br /> <br />13. <br /> <br />Fines and/or reclamation fees for businesses employing illegal A-frame signs <br />Increased code enforcement against painted window signs <br />Prohibition of community bulletin boards on exterior walls of buildings <br />Abatement of abandoned shopping carts by having City staff take them <br />to the corporate yard for subsequent retrieval by store owners, with no <br />fees to be charged for reclaiming the carts <br />Requirement that commercial dumpsters be locked to prevent scavenging <br />Cost/benefit analysis to determine whether additional personnel are warranted <br />for the abandoned vehicle abatement program <br />Use of parking control measures such as red curbs (to prohibit parking), <br />additional permit parking districts, special parking permits, and prohibition of <br />overnight parking to help reduce residential overcrowding <br />Increased code enforcement against truck vendors <br />Council referral system for constituent complaints <br />Proactive rather than complaint-driven code enforcement and comprehensive <br />citation of code enforcement violations on a single property <br />Education program to increase residents' awareness of Code requirements <br />Use of all City field employees (not just Code Enforcement Section) to identify <br />visible code violations <br />Increased use of volunteers in Code Enforcement programs <br /> <br />CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 79 MARCH 12, 1997 <br /> <br /> <br />