A citizen can report issues by:
When reporting a code issue, please provide a specific address with as much detail as possible regarding the issue in question. This will allow the officer to more quickly identify the correct property and begin an investigation. An investigation regarding the reported issue will begin within 48 hours of the report.
If an investigation determines a violation of the Code of Ordinances, the officer will follow a standardized operating procedure to address the violation. The initial effort will be to gain voluntary compliance through education. This will be done through efforts ranging form door-tags to personal contact, phone calls, and letters. If voluntary compliance is not reached, the Code Enforcement Officer will issue a written citation or summons request to Municipal Court.
Responsible parties vary depending on the type of violation. Property owners are responsible for property maintenance violations. They will be sent written notification specifying a time frame to reach compliance. Vehicle owners are responsible for most parking violations. Utility customers are responsible for most sanitation violations.
Some violations can take a significant amount of time to address due to local and state laws. The compliance time for a weeds and grass violation can take up to 30 days and up to 45 days for a junk motor vehicle parked on private property.
All enforcement actions are placed in a tracking system to ensure proper follow-up and compliance is completed. All records related to an investigation, citation, or summons are filed according to date as well as a case number generated by the tracking system. These records are kept for the required time frame as outlined by state law. Citations and summons requests are processed by Municipal Court, and records are retained under the same state requirements.
If you received a letter and wish to speak with the officer who wrote the letter, please have the case number that is located in the upper right hand corner of the letter handy. The officer's name who wrote the letter is at the bottom.
Reporting of a violation is anonymous. If a violation is reported and the reporting party would like to be informed regarding the investigation, they must provide their contact information.