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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6A-Code Enforcement O� Px1p� ti U 4646 Dakota Street SE Prior Lake, MN 55372 so, CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT MEETING DATE: APRIL 27, 2015 AGENDA#: 6A PREPARED BY: DALE STEFANISKO, CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER PRESENTED BY: DALE STEFANISKO AGENDA ITEM: CONSIDER APPROVAL OF A REPORT ON THE 2014 CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITY DISCUSSION: Introduction The purpose of this report is to provide the City Council with information regard- ing complaints, code violations, and code enforcement activity for the year 2014. History In July of 2007, The City of Prior Lake hired its first full time Code Enforcement Officer and has since implemented a more proactive Code Enforcement Pro- gram. The main goal of the program is to enhance the health, safety and aes- thetics of the city through voluntary compliance. We continue to maximize the attractiveness of residential and commercial properties by effectively enforcing the standards and requirements of the City Code. This has been achieved by both a proactive and complaint driven approach. A resident can contact the Code Enforcement Officer with a question or concern and a site visit will be made. If a violation is confirmed at the time of inspection, the responsible party will be notified. They will be provided a notice of the vio- lation and given a deadline to make the correction. When voluntary compliance is not achieved within a reasonable amount of time it may become necessary to issue a misdemeanor citation to the responsible party. A citation requires the responsible party to appear at Scott County District Court. This typically results in a fine and confirmation that the violation has been corrected. Compliance of city ordinances can also be achieved through educating and in- forming the public of the city ordinances. Examples of public outreach are reg- ular contributions in "The Wavelength" or water bill insert to inform residents of various codes to include seasonal or weather related ordinances and brochure hand out flyers for specific codes. The City Electronic Monument Signs continue to be used to display various code enforcement timely information. The City's website lists several common code type violations, links to the Code Enforce- ment policy and the Good Neighbor Guide to Code Compliance. Voluntary com- pliance is a desired goal of the Code Enforcement Program and is being achieved in the vast majority of cases. January, 2011 marked the start of a transition which documents all code en- forcement related activity in a new software program called "Splash". Splash is an intranet based program which can be accessed by all Prior Lake City Staff. This allows any staff member to field a complaint and enter the details onto a service ticket, which is then forwarded to Code Enforcement. The Code En- forcement Officer documents the findings of the initial inspection and any sub- sequent inspections up until the case is closed. This documentation includes inspection findings, photos, notices, correspondence, and any other updates or developments pertaining to a particular case. All the case information is con- tained in one data base and is easily searchable. Splash allows any staff member to check on the status of a complaint and easily convey that information to any resident who may be concerned about an issue. Improvements to Splash were made effective January 1, 2013. A newly created Code Enforcement Services module went into effect in Splash specific to code enforcement services. As a result there is better reporting of case violations, easy tracking and viewing of the case status, notices issued, violations, com- plaint source, and photos. Splash has proven to be valuable tool that has im- proved staff communication and increased efficiencies with the Code Enforce- ment Program. Current Circumstances This report consists of a year-end summary of the total number of violations for closed cases in the year 2014, to include how many new cases were opened in the year 2014, the source of the complaints, the processes required to re- solve the violations, the average time frame required to resolve a complaint, the voluntary compliance percentage, multiple violation percentages, a breakdown of the twelve most common violation categories and comparisons of prior year's code violations. This report is being furnished in order to provide the Council with insight that may be useful in evaluating current resident concerns and fu- ture regulatory decisions. It has been observed the vast majority of City resi- dents have pride in their neighborhoods and the community. They feel an ob- ligation to maintain a neat appearance on their properties and expect nearby properties do the same. The City of Prior Lake has documented five hundred thirty-four(534) new cases opened in 2014. There were five hundred sixteen (516) cases closed in 2014. The difference between new opened cases and cases closed in 2014 is be- cause some cases that were opened in 2013 were not closed until 2014. The information on violation totals is based on closed cases in the year 2014. There were six hundred sixty four (664) violations addressed in 2014 for a de- crease of seventeen percent (17%) when compared to the eight hundred and two (802) violations in 2013. 2014 Violations were as follows: Garbage & Refuse 68 Tall Grass 123 Right Of Way 112 Vehicles Parked in the Yard 52 Junk Storage 68 Junk Vehicles 31 Public Nuisance 65 Permit Violations 33 Property Maintenance 72 Zoning Use 15 Signage 10 Animal Control 15 The attached Exhibit A displays the type of violations for the closed cases for the current reporting period. The attached Exhibit B displays a year to year comparison of complaints from the past four years. The attached Exhibit C displays the code enforcement violations compared over the last ten years. The attached Exhibit D displays the process used and time frame needed to resolve the violations for this reporting period. The exhibit displays the amount of cases where no action was required. The attached Exhibit E displays the source of the complaints for this reporting period. The attached Exhibit F displays the amount of properties with multiply viola- tions. Conclusion Work continues on ways to refine our Code Enforcement Program to be sure we are responsive and accountable to our customers in providing good code enforcement services. Public awareness and public education outreach on the city codes are a priority and made available to the community and city staff. Please note voluntary compliance was achieved in over 99% of the cases this reporting period. Once a person with a code violation was made aware of code violations they resolved them in a timely manner. In fact over 71% of code violations were resolved within 14 days of when the person with the violation was first notified they had a violation and 92% of all cases were resolved within 30 days of being noticed. The increase in the amount of cases and violations compared to the average over the last five years is not expected to continue due to the fact that most people with a violation address the issue in a timely manner and are not repeat violators. In 2015, we will continue to monitor the City ordinances and continue to recom- mend changes as necessary. Any ordinance changes that significantly affect the residents will be promoted by updates to the webpage, use of the Electronic Monument signs, use of the Wavelength, and brochures created for specific significant code changes. We will continue to utilize the City's intranet system (SPLASH) to report and track complaints. ISSUES: Five hundred sixteen (516) complaint cases have been closed by either meet- ing compliance or being deemed invalid. Some cases opened in calendar year 2014 remain open. It is not uncommon for some cases to remain open due to pending investigations, court proceedings and/or continued improvements to a challenging property. Challenging properties can be defined as properties that required a certified mailing of a final notice or a citation being issued to resolve the violations at the property. These type of cases amounted to less than 8% of the all the cases but it is estimated it required more than 20% of code enforcement time re- sources to resolve. Other added cost to challenging properties include the cer- tified mailings expenses, office resources, and attending court. Code enforce- ment will continue to work on reducing the amount of time to resolve all viola- tions especially challenging properties. Proactively educating the public and businesses about code enforcement services and City ordinances will continue to be a priority over this next year. FINANCIAL There is no financial impact as a result of this report. IMPACT: ALTERNATIVES: The City Council has two alternatives: 1. Accept the code enforcement 2014 year-end report. 2. Provide the staff with additional direction. RECOMMENDED Alternative #1 MOTION: EXHIBIT A Percent of Total Violations & Number in Each Category I IM i 112 68 68 M M 65 72 52 33 31 10 15 15 O�P�Q \O�Li ��Q \P �Q,�y #of Complaints ■%of Complaints EXHIBIT B Violation Comparison 2012-2014 zoo N 150 C4-0 % oc 05 Mqb- "►ice ,.t�"� �`J e�`�. M1`-.'.� `4��'l� `{�� .`� .`\ J 'D� �h. Violations Categories 2012 -314 2013 802 2014-664 Year Totals 2012 - 314 2013 - 802 2014 - 664 EXHIBIT C Violations Comparison 10 Years 900 802 800 700 664 600 500 400 314 300 250 271 229 235 200 175 188 132 100 0 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 EXHIBIT D PROCESS FOR CLOSED 2014 CASES 350 61% 300 250 N 200 =U 150 21% 100 10% 50 7% 1% 316 109 35 C� 54 0 14 DAYS 28 DAYS 60 DAYS Citation Issued 5 DAYS OR LESS One Notice Two Notices Third/Final Notice Closed Cases No Violation 316 cases 109 cases 35 cases 2 cases No Action 61% 21% 7% <1% Required 54 cases 10% Type of Notice & .Length of Process to Resolve Violations QUANTITY PERCENTAGE EXHIBIT E 250 SOURCE OF 2014 CLOSED CASES ------ 50,0 45% 45% 200 40% 35% 150 25% 30% 25% 100 t 17% 20% 13% 230 15% 132 50 70 10% 84 5% 0 __ 0% Anonymous/Combo Citizens Pro-Active Code Officer Internal Staff #of Complaints 70 230 132 84 %of Complaints 13% 45% 25% 17% EXHIBIT F Properties with Multiple Violations \a J�o C) \0 JPO z 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 of Violations #of Violations