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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 05211996 - SD.5 i -SL s TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ?` ........ Contra t FROM: Supervisor Tom Torlakson �" Costa County DATE: May 21, 1996 q coi Kt' SUBJECT: REVIEW CURRENT ABATEMENT ACTION AT 100 NAPA COURT (BAY POINT AREA), SPECIFICALLY; REVIEW OVERALL CODE ENFORCEMENT POLICIES AND POLICIES AND PROCEDURES. SPECIFIC REOUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION Recommended Action: 1. Review current abatement activity at 100 Napa Court. A) Request report from Environmental Health Department on complaints and proposed abatement action related to alleged illegal garbage service and waste handling being conducted at 100 Napa Court, including history of complaints, response to complaints at this location, and schedule to resolve problems. B) Request report from any other department conducting investigation of code enforcement complaints at this location. C) Investigate utilization of the County's franchising authority and our ordinance requirements for a Board of Supervisor permit for hauling waste on a County road as a means of forcing immediate abatement of the problems here. 2. Request review of overall code enforcement policies and procedures. A) Request the County Administrator's Office to set up a workshop in Martinez for Thursday, May 30, 1996, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. to discuss and review current code enforcement practices. Representatives of all Districts offices should be invited to attend if they are interested. Also in attendance should be representatives of Building Inspection, Community Development, Health Department and Vehicle Abatement and Community Policing Units of the Sheriff's Department, as well as personnel from Data Processing familiar with the County's computer system. Request Code Enforcement staff to conduct a workshop and walk-through of current intake procedure and follow-up on that date. B) Request the County Administrator's office, subsequent to the May 30 meeting, to set up a community workshop in District V in conjunction with District Supervisor. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON May 21, 1996 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE XX UNANIMOUS(ABSENT I I I AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: (See Page 3 for Distribution) ATTESTED May 21, 1996 PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY a 0 ,DEPUTY M382 (10/88) 5D Abatement Procedure Contd. May 21, 1996 Page 2 C) Consider the establishment of a Code Enforcement Citizens Coordinating Committee with representation from our Municipal Advisory Councils. Some of the roles of the Committee might be to serve as liaisons to their communities, both in terms of conveying information and education about the code enforcement system to their respective communities, as well as to bring suggestions forward to County staff and to help gather evidence that would help the abatement procedures. D) Request a review of the proposed direct citation process. Review the proposed process and discuss implementation of the procedure. Review departments/individuals capable of issuing direction citations and in what circumstances. Discuss means, whether by revised administrative process or proposed legislative changes, by which this process can be streamlined and made more effective. E) Review State Statutes for directly citing for violations, for billing for site visits and other means of recovering costs of code enforcement from the perpetrators of the problem. F) Review the schedule of code enforcement staff meetings of various department representatives to assure optimal coordination of County staff and effective means of communicating with community groups of volunteers. Are inter-departmental meetings being held frequently enough? Are all departments participating? G) Review frequency and completeness of computer printout case updates that could be distributed to and can be used by staff, by district Supervisors' offices, by community groups (Municipal Advisory Councils, etc. ) and by the proposed Citizens Coordinating Committee. H) Investigate further cross-training of different departments' staff and of shared use of staff from different departments to make initial site visits and do follow-up investigations when they are in the geographic vicinity. I) Request report in 60 days on the full implementation of the LIS System in all departments, for posting of progress on cases, especially as regards the Health Department coming on line and using this important communication resource and tracking tool. J) Consider establishing a Volunteer Code Enforcement Assistant Group that could be trained to assist in some of the proper processing, intake, and other office work. Volunteers could help expedite the "complaint to enforcement" process and help free up more technically trained staff to do actual enforcement work. 3. Refer all the recommendations contained within Recommendations Nos. 1 and 2 above to the Internal Operations and Finance Committees for review and final report with their recommendations to the Board of Supervisors. Background Information: While some progress has been made in recent years in pursuing code violations, I'm convinced that much more could and should be done. Just with existing staff and resources, more effective code enforcement is possible. With some change in State Law and some changes in our own County procedures, much more could be accomplished. While recognizing the huge volume of cases and the complexity of many of them, I recognize the frustration that many community groups and citizens feel regarding the usual slowness of the process. Code enforcement is so important because it goes hand in hand with law enforcement in discouraging and cleaning up criminal activity as well as keeping up property values and neighborhood appearances. Representatives of various community groups, including the District V Municipal Advisory Council, have demonstrated a frustration with current code enforcement policies and timeframes. A review of the County's overall code enforcement procedures is in order. Community members have made several suggestions for improvement to the current system which; notwithstanding legal constraints, may have some merit. Among the suggestions have been the establishment of a Volunteer Bureau. The general public appears to be very Abatement Procedure Contd. May 21, 1996 Page 3 cognizant of the budget restraints the County has experienced. A Volunteer Bureau, whose members could be trained to do intake of code enforcement complaints, as well as referring and tracking complaints, might be a means by which the community members could assist in the processing of complaints in a more timely manner as well as provide an educational opportunity for the community to understand the current laws and enforcement process. cc: County Administrator Finance Committee Internal operations Committee Community Development Director MACS Building Inspector Sheriff-Coroner Health Services Director County Counsel