MOUNT VERNON — City council members unanimously adopted legislation on Monday creating a code enforcement department for the city.
The department would oversee codes relating to property maintenance (including waste haulers), FOG (fats, oils, grease) inspections and other utility enforcement and zoning.
Council member Tammy Woods asked why the administration needs to create a department if people are already doing the code enforcement job.
“It is more efficient and effective for a government to operate if we can assign duties to departments the same way that we assign certain duties [to people],” Safety-service Director Tanner Salyers responded.
“It’s just kind of a natural flow of government necessary for administration.”
Otherwise, Salyers said that as safety-service director, he would manage waste haulers, property maintenance, and other code enforcement. However, in reality, he would simply delegate the tasks to other employees.
“That’s what has been happening in the city for some time,” he said.
“Ultimately, what happens when … we don’t have the personnel or the structure to do it, is in the past it just doesn’t get done.”
Salyers noted that many things council members, the city inspector, and the assistant city inspector discussed at the July 15 council meeting related to parts of the current code the city was not enforcing.
“That kind of underscores the need for not only the organization of the department itself, but for us to have somebody to look to enforce the things that are on the books,” Salyers said.
“I think now we have not only an opportunity to organize the code enforcement department as a true department, but also to give them the budget they need to execute.”
Code enforcement department streamlines responsibilities
Creating a code enforcement department enables the city inspector to assign specific responsibilities to individuals, rather than consolidating all code enforcement duties into a single job description.
Citing the fire chief as an example, Salyers said legislation does not attribute all departmental responsibilities to the chief.
Instead, the fire chief “has rein over his department,” and the department carries out the responsibilities.
“It’s the same way that the flow should work here because we have codes that need enforced,” Salyers explained.
“We have legislation that guides us on how to enforce them, and we have a department head, in this case the city inspector, who will distribute those responsibilities within his department.”
Salyers said the department’s budget will essentially remain the same, although he acknowledged it might increase based on activity.
However, instead of piecemealing funds from the safety-service director, utility, and property maintenance enforcement officer budgets, that money will funnel into a code enforcement budget.
“We were doing a lot of work and not assessing fees on a lot of the work that we should have been collecting,” Salyers said, adding that those fees will help offset the department’s costs.
City Inspector Scott Zimmerman said a separate budget streamlines the process and makes tracking easier.
Council discusses inoperable cars and junk vehicles
In a Land Use and Development Committee meeting, council members again discussed proposed changes to Chapter 1309 of the city code relating to inoperable cars and junk vehicles.
City Inspector Scott Zimmerman said a primary change includes specifically stating residents are not allowed to park vehicles in their front yard.
“If you do that in the city, 90% of the time you’re sitting on a sidewalk and then if you’re on a sidewalk, the police department will come give you a ticket or have you towed,” he said. “That has been an issue.”
Other concerns Zimmerman heard related to the city requiring residents to put in a driveway.
“If you’re going to park your hobby car or something in your backyard, put a little bit of gravel down, maybe some pavers or something so it’s not sinking in the mud,” he said.
Regarding the time frame to work on a car, the proposed legislation allows 14 days. Zimmerman said council members could change that to 21 or 30.
“I think the majority of the people will honor that and do their best due diligence. If they need more time, there’s no reason in the world they couldn’t call in and say, ‘Hey, I’m waiting on parts, or ‘I need something here,’ and we would accommodate it,” Zimmerman said.
“Now eventually, you have to get it buttoned up and get registration.”
Zimmerman reiterated, “there is nothing that we haven’t been enforcing that isn’t already on the books.”
“These are already laws that have been passed and have been on there for many years. It’s just that now that we’re getting a little more organized, and we’re getting a little more structure, we’re able to do this enforcement,” he said.
Zimmerman won’t enforce retroactive penalties
Zimmerman said he will not bill anyone for fines incurred before he became city inspector. Penalties will start accruing the day he sends an enforcement letter.
Zimmerman said it’s rare that a resident is unable to access the back of their property for parking. Typically, they can access an alley and improve their back lot.
Salyers said the city is considering a cost-share program where a property owner can access city prices to improve the lot to comply with parking regulations.
By a 6-1 vote, council members postponed the second reading of the legislation to Aug. 28 because Amber Keener, chair of land use and development, will be on vacation for the Aug. 11 meeting.
Councilman Mel Severns voted no.
In addition to legislation creating a code enforcement department, council members voted 6-1 to revise the waste hauler regulations. Council member Woods voted against the legislation.
