Agenda - Council - 04/08/2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Cook inquired if the City would begin going around looldng for violations or would they still handle them on a complaint basis. He would not want the City going overboard on code enforcement. Principal Planner Trudgeon agreed. He explained that the problem with. the current system is that if someone knows that the City is just going to send the letters and do nothing about it they will continue to violate the ordinance. Councilmember Elvig inquired if staff was proposing to still deal with the complaints on a "hand shake" level and if they do not respond then go through the Administrative Hearing process. Principal Plarmer Trudgeon replied that the City is willing to work with property owners for a long time to correct the problem, but it is the situation when the issue is ignored where there is a problem. Mayor Gamec stated that he felt that the City should continue dealing with City Code violations on a complaint basis because a lot of the issues are neighborhood disputes, but there are some larger concerns such as junk cars on a property that simply are ignored. He suggested that the City not go out looking for trouble, but if there is a complaint they should follow through. Councilmember Cook stated that. he would be in favor of the administrative hearing process in situations where staff has been working on a problem for a long time and the property owners are refusing to work with the City. He also requested that they review the issue of livestock on a 2.5- acre parcel at a future work session. Councilmember Pearson stated that he liked the idea of approaching the property owner first and allowing them time to correct the problem, but if someone does not act after they have been nudged a few times then the City needs to take further action. The City Council directed staff to write an ordinance to implement an Administrative Hearing program for the City of Ramsey so that the ordinance can be used.when deemed appropriate.' 4) Building Inspections & Permits City Administrator Norman stated that City staff has been studying permits and inspections since the fall of last year. Curt Boganey, who has served' in a variety of roles with the City until recently, has been facilitating most of the internal analysis efforts. His study has encompassed areas of building permits and inspections that include revenues expectations and'obstacles, State Building Code rule changes, and building permit sofh;vare. The 2003 Minnesota State Building Code is in the final stages of the rule process and is expected to be published and effective early in March 2003. The Code will become effective five working days after publication. Municipalities that enforce the State Building Code will need to update their building code ordinance to reflect the new building code in order to enforce it properly. Mr. Boganey has reviewed the rule-making process and has provided his analysis and recormnendatikm in a City Council/March 4, 2003 Page 9 of 16 -119-