I am on the city council of a small town in Michigan, pop. approx. 5,500, 1 sq mile. Our building dept., code enforcement, tax assesor, planning/zoning offical is all the same person!!! The state does all the mechcanical, electrial, and plumbing. One thing that always get shoved on the back burner is code enforcement, unlienced cars in drive, parking RV’s in front yard, construction without permits, property manitaince, ect……. Things only get done when a resident make a complaint, loud & hard. In tring to fine a soultion, the obvious is to hire more staff, how does your municiplaity handle code enforement issues?
Are they handled on a complaint basis only? Does the offical drive the city to be on the look out for violations? When violations are found how are they handled? Personal visit to the site?, Phone call, form letter, or just a friend call/letter to imform the resident that action needs to be taken????
We are tring to avoid the code offical from becoming “Big Brother”, yet ordiances are in place to protect the health, saftey, well being, and just general appearance of the community. I am not just looking at this as a contractors point of view, but also as a resident of your community. What does your community do that is good, what is bad?
I would like to hear some thoughts on this. Thank you!!!!
Replies
Outsider, put all your "complaints" in writing. Once they are documented, it's hard to ignore them. If the official ignores them, they may be violating the law. If it's a verbal complaint, they simply wil deny it ever occurring.
blue
Just because you can, doesn't mean you should!
Warning! Be cautious when taking any framing advice from me. There are some in here who think I'm a hackmeister...they might be right! Of course, they might be wrong too!
Agree, but what we are tring to do is "more with less" and giving the best service to the residents. Let's pretent that you have a junk car, no plates, in your front yard with the grass knee high to a tall indian. Would that situation exsit untill someone files a written complaint @ city hall? Or would the offical notice it first? Would the city call you on the phone or send a letter? Would the offical make a personal visit to the site? What I am tring to find is how the outside world handles code enforcement? I don't get out of our 1 mle sq world to often. We are tring to improve how complaints are handled at city hall.
Footnote: Our town is the home of Micheal Moore and I graduated high school with him, so if you want to visit his home town don't speed!!!! Our police is not as lax as our code enforcement!!
"home of Micheal Moore and I graduated high school with him"
My sympathies.
Code enforcement ina big city is different from a small town... obviously due to resources.
In Columbus... most code enforcement personnel are tied up simply reviewing complaints. That said... they are a bit more professional than those in the small towns around columbus.
In the smaller towns... they write citations and ask questions later (not my preferred). In Columbus... they will issue a warning and give XX number of days to correct the problem (preferred). All are in writing... all are after a personal visit.
My suggestion... strike a balance of the two. Personal visits are a must.. but don't go "seek and destroy" in your efforts. If a complaint is filed... it needs to be investigated. If the compliance officer sees a violation... obviously he needs to address it. BUT... don't hire a person to do nothing but seek out violations and issue citations. the goal should be to obtain compliance... not a money maker for the city (which unfortunately is the goals that many municipalities have).
The ultimate goal of any govt agency should be to eliminate the need for its own existence, IMO. In this case... 100% compliance by the citizens is the goal. So an educational program to actually educate the community about the code... and an "easy compliance" program would go a long way to the goal of 100% compliance. If the code is so complex that the average citizen cannot decipher it... then you have a larger issue... and the code needs to go through the "user friendly" process.
If the code cannot be understood... it is less likely to be followed. Simplify the words... simplify the permit processes... simplify the way that citizens can find professional help and answers... the more likely the code will be complied with and successful..
Good luck to you as you seek that balance.
Edited 3/10/2005 2:12 pm ET by Rich from Columbus
We have an adequate amount of enforcement officials in our town. Code enforcement is done on an arbitrary and selective basis. Depending on who is in violation or who is filing the complaint, the matter can be handled two different ways or be ignored.
To be fair we do have a few honest officials who do their jobs and enforce the laws and codes fairly, but when their superiors ignore laws or overlook misdeeds by other department officials, it makes it harder for them to do the jobs they were hired to do.
If I want to pull a permit I can't say anything bad about these people and ruffle their feathers, because they will still be working for us tomorrow.
Hey Outsider54,
In my small town the code officials are very proactive in searching out violations. On Saturday mornings (when the weekend warriors are in full battle gear) the building inspector will drive around town and look for signs of new work and then check a “cheat sheet” that he carries around to see if any permits have been pulled. He’ll look for dumpsters in driveways, trade vans, the HD DIY delivery rig that HOs rent for $19, a load of stacked lumber and other signs of work for clues. If he sees a potential project where no permit for that address was pulled he will walk up, ring the bell, and ask what’s going on.
A few years back I was helping a friend fix some vinyl siding. The guys that installed it for him did not properly nail it off and on one particular side of the house it was unzipping and falling off in blowing rain storms. We had to set up a scaffold and take a few strips off here and there and reinstall to correct. About mid way thru this Saturday morning we found the local building inspector standing at the curb waving us down. He wanted to know exactly what we were doing (asked 3 times in 5 minutes if we were putting in a new window) and wanted to see permits. We explained that we were just fixing the small problem a previous guy made and if he checked he would have seen permits for that job from a few months ago. He checked and we were OK but this shows how in my town you can’t put a screwdriver in your back pocket without the town “heavies” coming asking for permits.
I heard once that all the towns in my area (Orange County NY) have moved to a more aggressive “search and destroy” strategy because permits and the fines paid on the lack of permits are becoming a more important revenue source for most small towns since they have maxed out the people’s tolerance for yearly double digit increases in property taxes. They are have their backs against the wall and are taking it out on the local Joe Hammer.
Letting your public know the rules is a big help for compliance and enforcement.
A one page outline in laymans english of who needs permits for what could be posted in the paper and printed at a few home centers and the like, plus the town website.
That way John Doe know if he needs a permit to build that shed out back, and his neighbors know if he needs a permit.
I worked cose enforcement and as the building offcial and was also on planning and zonning.
It doesnt really matter what anyone else does . Theres probably 6 to 8 city council members and the mayor presiding .
If the group of you make it illegal to spit on the side walk and decide on a 1,000 fine , thats gonna be it . If you back your officer he can and will get it done .
Of course that is extreme and the general public would not back you on spitting , but they will back you on such things as sewer running over or a car up on blocks in the front yard. All the reasonable things you mention. Yall vote it in and its law . You knew that .
Next you have to pay a man to do it and back him 100 percent to do what you want done. This is the hardest part . He will get complaints over his actions and your position is politics. When yall decide not to stand behind your man , the whole system is done. The number one reason an official doesnt do his job is weak or no support. Many inspectors have to worry every month if thats the last check. Keep in mind that theres a limited few that want to hear what a code official has to say. Most would rather tell himm or her to stick it and if they can talk behind his back where a council member will listen and react , then that council memember might as well do it himself in his part time for all the good hes doing the system.
If the group wants it done then do it . If the group wont support it then fire the code official and save the money. No sense in throwing the money away. There are plusses long term to doing it but the public wont see it in your term. Catch 22.
Tim Mooney
Tim,
What you say is so correct, I read with a little chuckle. I have been on the city council for 20yrs, served as Mayor for 2 years, and chairman of the zoning board of appealls for 10 years. What we have here is a building offical that is wearing to many hats!! When our council gathers for our annual goals & objective meeting the largest complaint is lack of code enforcement. And when it come to laying off 2 police officers or hiring and code enforcement asst. You know what going to happen. The building dept gets dumped on. What we are tring to create is the most user friendly, efficent building department as possible. All of the comments are great, when I get more time I will go over all responces and ask more questions. Keep in mind the the code enforcement dept. deals with more than just construction, it's that junk car, realators placing signs in city right away, polititions with signs that obstruct views at intersections, solicitior knocking on your door @ 10pm, illegal sump pump hook up, dog running loose, but here you can spit on the sidewalk. We had to wavie an ord. for our town fest. for a pig wrestling contest, could not run livestock across city property.
thanks for all your comments, keep them comming.
Couldn't the police do the parts about grass too high, car on blocks, etc? That is certainly different from building permits, etc.BTW, one thing I heard when looking into installing gas fireplace inserts and wondering about code on shut-offs (do the shutoffs on the units count as one of the shutoffs or not) was that it depends on who the inspector is. That is NOT what I want to hear! The code should apply to everyone equally. Of course, I think there should be seperate building codes for new work versus remodeling of existing space too.
Brian, Good idea, but we have tried to run that threw the PD contract agreement, didn't float. But our water department's reader as they walk the route to read meter has a hand held computer reader. Has the capability to have a read out for each address, IE: "reader on north side of house" "remote reader in back yard", "beware of large dog", ect.....Also the reader can input info as they walk the route ie:, un lienced car in driveway, new fence, new deck,ect... when downloaded can cross reference with permits pulled or address that need attention. Our DPW, Police, metter reader already are on the streets. They could help out, just to be our eyes.
A couple of thoughts:
-- if there's requirements for permits on the books but everyone is ignoring 'em, it's gonna take a real change in attitudes to get most people to accept that the law applies to them. So like someone already said, a good first step would be to educate the citizens on what the laws are, the benefits (construction meets Codes to improve life safety), and how the city is going to start enforcing them.
--make the permits easy to get. It just occurred to me, why couldn't your building inspector make the rounds on aturdays and when he sees a homeowner doing a project that requires a permit, ISSUE ONE ON THE SPOT. Wow, what a concept!
If the fees are reasonable and the person understands WHY permits and inspections are beneficial, then you're going to get grudging acceptance. Maybe do a year of that, then if someone is caught without a permit, add a small penalty. My (big) city charges 4 times the permit fee if work is done w/o a permit.
And please, don't set a policy, tell the Code enforcement guy to put it in play, and then undercut him by excusing people when they complain to the city council.
Good luck,
Cliff
what wrong with having a car on blocks, with the price of new vehicles you need all the parts cars you can get. I look at the permit office as just something to raise property tax. and you know the city going raise your tax as often as possible. Its like the wolf gaurding the sheep.
Edited 3/10/2005 9:52 pm ET by BROWNBAGG
I see no way that on esingle man can do all that you are requiring of hime. Too many hats is right! Either priortitize or hire more personael.We have about 50-70 man hours per week doing all that in a town the equivalent of maybe a third the size of yours.Minor things like junk in yard or dogs running loose get ignored unless someone complains.Land use permits and assessor gets higher priority.Was Moore as big a jerk and fantasy rider in school as he is now?
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Outsider,
I live in what is quickly becoming an upper middle class rural comunity in SE WI. Basically some working farms (lots of "junk" around) and "Mc Mansions" going in all over the place.
Our town is very laid back, (we don't even have a police force) and so far it seems to work. The town does send out town wide reminders/newsletters in the mail to inform people about what is a general violation, but unless somebody complains, they don't actively look.
IMO, that's the way it should be.
Jon