Agenda - Council Work Session - 05/03/2011

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CC Work Session 2. 3. Meeting Date: 05/03/2011 By: Heidi Nelson, Administrative Services Title: Review Code Enforcement and Abatement Level of Service Background: As a part of the 2011 Council Strategic Planning Session, Council identified Review of Code Enforcement and Abatement Program, as a goal. The purpose of this case is to discuss the current status of the program and received feedback from the Council regarding their goals for this program in 2011 and for the 2012 budget. In 2007, the City Council adopted an ordinance that established an abatement program as a tool within code enforcement for the City of Ramsey. The abatement program was implemented shortly thereafter by City staff. The departments that have been historically engaged in the code enforcement/abatement activity include Police, Planning and Building Inspections. In addition to property checks for ordinance violations, in 2009, planning and police staff began checking foreclosed properties in the fall for occupancy. If a property was determined to be vacant, the water was shut off by utility staff to prevent home damage from frozen pipes over the winter months. There is a definite seasonality to code enforcement and abatement workload, in that it peaks in the spring when the snow melts through the summer months. Staffing reductions have taken place since 2007, including the reduction of four building inspector positions, one building inspection secretary, two positions in planning, and one community service officer.These reductions have created challenges in keeping up with the reports and follow -up on violations with the staffing currently available for code enforcement /abatement activities. Currently, there is one community service officer and two planning positions that dedicate 60% and 10 %, respectively of their time to code enforcement /abatement activities on average throughout the year. During the peak months of code enforcement activities, those percentages increase to 85% and 25 %, respectively. Administrative staff from police and planning assist in record keeping for code enforcement activities as well. Community expectations have been raised with regard to the city's response to complaints and follow -up given the staffing resources that have been historically been allocated to this effort. Staff has concerns regarding the ability of the current staffing complement to respond and follow -up within the time lines dictated by city code as well as meeting the expectations of the community if Council desires to maintain the program currently in place. The chart below represents the code enforcement activity for 2008 -2010: Code Enforcement Totals: 2008 2009 2010 Reports Taken 322 288 193 Total Violations 498 411 284 Water Shut Off Checks n/a 14 66 Abatements 54 9 16 Staff has discussed options of bringing in part-time temporary help to assist with code enforcement activities in the peak spring and summer months. One option for this summer, would be to utilize funds that were budgeted for the Management /Planning Intern (budgeted for 2080 hours), that will not be utilized due to the spring start of that current position and the part-time work hours during the academic year. Staff estimates that there are approximately $12,000 dollars available to fund a temporary position for the summer of 2011 to assist with this effort.