Code Enforcement Program Discussion

Councilmember Specht and Councilmember Howell requested to discuss the program at a City Council work session.

The current program is complaint-based. Once a complaint is filed with the Code Enforcement Officer (CEO), the property is then inspected for noncompliance and the following procedures take place:

1. If there are no issues found, the case is closed. If issue(s) are found, the CEO will try to make contact by knocking on the door or making a phone call. If contact is made, the goal is for the CEO to establish a professional relationship with the person in hopes to solving the noncompliant issue with a verbal agreement rather than sending a noncompliant letter.
2. If contact is not made, a noncompliant letter is either posted on the door or sent with a two-week to 30-day deadline to bring the property into compliance (depending on the issue). More times than not, the person will contact the CEO; at which point, the CEO and the person will work together to remedy the situation. This is typically done with an extended deadline. At this point, approximately 90% of properties are brought into compliance or have made contact with the CEO to work out a correction plan.
3. If the person fails to meet the deadline and has not made contact with the CEO, a second violation letter is sent with a two (2) week deadline to bring the property into compliance. The individual also receives the appeal process.
4. If the person fails to make contact with the CEO to work on an extension, an administrative penalty may be issued at this point. Since June 2022, approximately 73 administrative penalties have been issued. Of the 73 issued, 39 have been voided because the property was brought into compliance, 19 were paid and the property was brought into compliance, 10 have been invoiced (sent to Finance for possible assessment) and the remaining 5 are working with the CEO to bring the properties into compliance.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
The Ramsey CEO found that more properties are brought into compliance when one-on-one contact is made with the property owner, instead of sending a noncompliant letter from the get-go. Compliance times range from immediately to months; each situation is different, and the CEO works closely with the property owner to come up with a plan that works for them and makes every effort to solve the issue(s) without sending a letter. The CEO has made many positive and professional relationships with the citizens of Ramsey working from this angle. There are many examples in which the CEO has assisted individuals to ease the process by getting them in contact with Veterans Affairs, Anoka County Social Services, Anoka County Adult Protection, Habitat for Humanity, Chores and More, Care Resource Connection, providing housing resource information to an un-housed population, etc.  Again, noncompliant letters are sent when the CEO cannot make contact with the individual or in instances where no progress is being made to bring the property into compliance.  

As for other municipalities and in my experience, the Ramsey procedure is common practice, minus the step of making contact with the individual rather than sending a letter. The typical timeframe of bringing a property into compliance and/or administering a citation in other municipalities is quite shorter. In my opinion, this is because the Ramsey CEO's goal is to work directly with the individual rather than issuing non-compliant letters. From September 2023 through today, there have been 440 violations recorded. Of these, 293 violations remain open and are in the following process: Verbal: 54, First Letter: 60, Second Letter: 11 and Administrative Penalty: 26.

It should be noted that our code enforcement program has evolved in recent years.  Early 2022 and prior multiple staff were conducting code enforcement measures, along with City Planner duties.  Since then we have had a dedicated staff person to handle complaints.  When a complaint comes in and a violation is addressed, it is common for the violating property to submit complaints against several more properties within the neighborhood.  To ease frustration, it is common for code enforcement to inspect surrounding properties that are near the actual property on which the complaint was filed against.  Earlier in 2024, City Council expressed concern that this was going beyond being a true complaint based code enforcement program. Therefore, that practice has ceased.  Today, only properties who receive a complaint are inspected and not a broader approach.

Due to time constraints, staff was only able to contact Andover, Blaine, Anoka and Coon Rapids to discuss the code enforcement programs. Each of the city's has a similar code enforcement program. Andover and Blaine responded. Information includes:

Andover
1. Code enforcement is the duty of the Associate Planner
2. This past year, there were 259 noncompliant letters sent, 238 properties have been brought into compliance, 8 citations have been issued. The compliance rate is 95.8%

Blaine
1. Neighborhood Services Specialist 
2. In 2023 1,015 noncompliant letters were sent, 100 resulted in final notices, 20 abatement notices, and 6 formal complaints were filed with Anoka County. Compliance rate is 99%.

Coon Rapids
1. Property Maintenance Coordinator
2. In the past year, 1,573 Courtesy Notices were issued and 720 administrative citations. They have about 75% compliance rate on courtesy notices and 80% compliance rate on administrative citations. In 2023, the program changed; administrative citations used to be issued immediately. The program changed to first issue a courtesy notice and then follow up with a citation if the property is not brought into compliance. 

More recently, city's are beginning to change the title of the code enforcement officer and the program. This is something the city staff and the CEO have discussed this past year in hopes to lessen the anxiety that may arise when residents receive notice from the "Code Enforcement Officer". The position is more geared towards property maintenance education of the zoning code. There are times when residents confuse the CEO for an actual Police Officer because of the word "Officer" in the job title. Staff recommends discussing the naming of the program and the job title of the CEO.

Code Enforcement Program is funded through the general fund and is part of the Community Development Department/Planning Division

Community Development Department

Discussion of the current code enforcement program.

TBD based on discussion and direction provided by City Council.