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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-05-15 CEAC MINUTES• • • CODE ENFORCEMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES MAY 15, 2002 1. Call to Order. The regular meeting of the Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee was called to order at 6:40 p.m. by Chairperson DesMarteau in the City Council Conference Room. Roll Call. Present: Ex-Officio: Absent: 2. Approval of Minutes. DesMarteau, Blair, Crowell, Olsen, McCahill Lynn , Moore, Flaherty, Yurchick, Grazulis Belt, Roberts Chairperson DesMarteau mentioned he was a non-voting member except in the case of a tie vote. Under Old business, Chairperson DesMarteau also asked that mentioning of Member Belt's request for extra patrol at the park be removed, as Member Belt did not attend the last meeting. Chairperson DesMarteau moved and member Blair seconded that the minutes of the April 17, 2002 Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meeting be approved as amended. Ayes: Nays: The motion carried. 3. Public Open forum. Blair, Crowell, Olsen, McCahill None Mr. Jim Goodrich was present to discuss the animal registration issue that City Council turned down. He went on to say it was a clear mandate from council that they wanted Code Enforcement out of the "mutt rut". He shared a copy of the State Rabies vaccination requirements with the group, and recommended that Englewood comply with the rabies inoculation program. Chairperson DesMarteau will review the laws and give Mr. Goodrich a synopsis on the topic. Lynn presented the court's fee schedule on violations. DesMarteau suggested to defer the topic and discuss it under new business at a later date . PAGE 1 • 4. • • Old Business. a. Review the CEAC By-Laws. Chairperson DesMarteau was informed by the City Attorney that meetings taking place by the CEAC members are bound by the Sunshine Law. He will follow up with the City Attorney for clarification of the By- Laws or propose new language , as some members were vague about the wording. It was suggested to do a complete review of the By-Laws and discuss it in new business at the next meeting. b. Hobby Vehicle Ordinance. Chairperson DesMarteau and members received copies of the Hobby Vehicle Ordinance at the last meeting. Their mission was to decide if they liked it the way it was , or if it would be appropriate to abolish the licensing fee , or look at other options. Chairperson DesMarteau opened the floor for discussion. Member McCahill believes the whole purpose of the fee was just to raise revenue. Member Mc Cahill made reference to Chief Moore 's memo that the fee is not being enforced , so why have it on the books if it doesn't serve a purpose, i.e. preventing a nuisance or a safety issue. Council Member Yurchick stated that it wasn 't a revenue generator as much as it was an old car issue . Council Member Grazulis made reference to it as being a derelict vehicle issue . Yurchick interpreted the ordinance to read that both derelict and hobby vehicles required a license. Member Crowell remarked that the ordinance was not very clear at all , and that it should be stricken altogether. He believes in giving the person a ticket and having them go to court and pay $100.00 . Member Olson commented there should be one term used consistently to define hobby/derelict vehicles. Chairperson DesMarteau inquired of Yurchick how the RV 's would be affected in the elimination of the distinction between hobby and derelict vehicles. Member Crowell expressed his objections for cars allowed to be in yards for seven years not registered , rusting in the ground and leaking oil. Member Blair's stand on the ordinance would be to allow one derelict vehicle per property. Additional comments were made regarding hobby vehicles as a car being taken care of, taking it to shows , etc. and driving on Sundays. Yurchick responded that this discussion came from a statement that the permit fee was on the books , but not being enforced. Council then questioned why it wasn 't being enforced. Lynn interjected there were 207 derelict vehicle notices issued last month and enforcement continues to be aggressive. Further discussion continued. A majority of the memb~rs agreed that most of the vehicles are not hobby vehicles , but they 're just on the properties due to laziness of the homeowner. The Englewood vehicle donation program was mentioned as an alternative to ridding the city of the derelict vehicles , but it doesn't provide a tax write off. Member McCahill made a motion to strike the language of the $100.00 licensing fee for the hobby/derelict vehicle permit. Member Blair seconded the motion , with four ayes. Further discussion ensued , with Member Crowell wanting to re-address the issue of not allowing any derelict vehicles in Englewood. Chairperson DesMarteau suggested to revisit this issue as old business at the next meeting when there is a full committee . PAGE2 • 5. New business. • • a. April 2002 Code Enforcement Monthly Activity Report. Lynn indicated the April 2002 Code Enforcement stats increased by 27%. Due to the dryness, Lynn stated there hasn't been the abundance of weeds as there was in April of last year. Lynn went on to say that leash law violations increased, with a majority of the problems arising from Littleton residents. He noted there's been a growing problem with graffiti , and parking citations have risen from 618 to 721 . Member McCahill inquired of the status on the Decriminalization Initiative. Lynn replied that he will schedule City Attorney Dan Brotzman to give a presentation at a future meeting. b. Penalty enforcement on rabies vaccinations. Due to Council Member Grazulis' absence, Chairperson DesMarteau chose to defer the rabies enforcement issue until next meeting. DesMarteau posed the question on how to enforce the rabies vaccination without having an animal licensing program. As per Chairperson DesMarteau, Council Member Grazulis will be reporting back to the committee at next month's meeting on this after speaking with the City Attorney on the sentencing and penalties. c. Transcribing/Recording equipment for Recording Secretary. Recording Secretary Sue Osborne stated she has ordered an Omnidirectional Recording Microphone to assist her in recording the minutes. The microphone is $49.99 and she asked the committee to approve the purchase and experiment with it to see how it performs. Osborne replied to Member McCahill' s question regarding reasoning of the purchase, which is for better quality sound. She went on to say it's imperative in having good equipment to hear everyone at both ends of the table, as well as eradicating all static and buzzing noises, making it hard to transcribe. Member McCahill made a motion for Osborne to purchase a microphone and/or other equipment up to the amount of $100 .00 and seconded by Member Crowell. The motion passed unanimously. d. Print Request for Code Enforcement Brochures. Lynn requested approval of funding in the amount of $1800.00 for the printing of the newly revised Code Enforcement brochure. Lynn pointed out he needs a quantity of 15 ,000 brochures to cover all of the homes in Englewood. Lynn stated that the CEAC conti:ibution will be supplemented by funds from the Safety Services Department. Member Blair made a motion and Member Crowell seconded it to approve $1800 out of the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee budget for the printing of the pamphlets. The motion passed unanimously. e. Abandoned Shopping Carts. Chief Moore mentioned this item would be discussed at the June meeting after the members have had a chance to review the handout. PAGE3 .. • 6. Topics for June 19, 2002 meeting. • • a. Review CEAC By-Laws/Sunshine Law b. Hobby vehicle licensing discussion c. Follow-up of penalty enforcement on Rabies Vaccinations d. Abandoned Shopping Cart Proposal e. May 2002 Monthly Activity Report 7. Adjournment. Member Olsen made a motion to adjourn and Member McCahill seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Ayes: DesMarteau, Blair, Crowell, Olsen, McCahill Nays: None Susan L. Osborne, Recording Secretary PAGE4 • • To: From: Through: Date: Subject: MEMORANDUM Chris Olson, Director of Safety Services Dave Lynn, Code Enforcement Supervisor~ Acting Patrol Operations Division Chief Steve Knoll June 6 , 2002 Code Enforcement Monthly Report-May 2002 Attached is the Code Enforcement Monthly Report for May 2002. The following entries deserve note: • Statistics for the month of May reflected a shifting of priorities to those issues typically observed in the summer months, specifically weeds . While the number of weed violations is up to 335, it is still down form May 2001 (967), due at least in part to the dry Spring. • All animal issues remained relatively constant from the previous month. • Parking tickets were reduced to 603 from 721 in April due to schools in downtown Denver being in recess. • Much of the attention of code officers in May was on following up on prior violations . A total of 484 prior violations were corrected. • During the week of May 13th, code and parking management officers assisted on numerous occasions with the receipt, storage and delivery of nine oversized modular building parts from Sweden. Most of these parts were subsequently assembled on a site on S. Inca Street, except for one part that was involved in an accident in Aurora. • On May l 61h, five code officers assisted with traffic control due to an overturned liquid nitrogen truck in Littleton. The code officers ceased their normal activ.ities and assumed traffic management duties by closing various intersections along Santa Fe Drive until approximately 7:30 PM, thus releasing police officers to other, more pressing duties. If there are any questions concerning this report, please feel free to contact me at ext. 2340 . Dave Cc: Trina Everhart CODE ENFORCEMENT MONTHLY ACTIVITY REPORT May 20 0 2 ANIMAL ISSUES DEAD ANIMALS TRANSPORTED ANIMALS EUTHANIZED CONSTANTLY BARKING DOGS ANIMALS AT LARGE LEASH LAW VIOLATIONS DOG BITES/ ATTACKS CRUELTY CONTACTS POSITIVE PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACTS ANIMALS TRANSPORTED TO CHS /OTHER TRAPS LOANED ANIMAL SUMMONSES ISSUED OTHER ANIMAL ISSUES VEHICLE ISSUES ABANDONED/DERELICT VEHICLES TAGGED ABANDONED/DERELICT VEHICLES TOWED PARKING TICKETS ISSUED VEHICLES RELEASED FROM IMPOUND VEHICLES SOLD AT AUCTION S.M.A.R.T. TRAILER PLACEMENTS CODE ENFORCEMENT ISSUES WEED NOTICES ISSUED TRASH AND LITTER NOTICES ISSUED TREE LETTERS ISSUED GRAFFITTI NOTICES ISSUED SNOW NOTICES/TICKETS ISSUED OBSTRUCTION OF RIGHT-OF-WAY NOTICES ISSUED ZONING NOTICES ISSUED DERELICT VEHICLE NOTICES ISSUED-PRIVATE PROPERTY OTHER CODE NOTICES ISSUED TOTAL CODE NOTICES ISSUED TO DIFFERENT PROPERTIES PROPERTIES POSTED WITH 30 DAY NOTICE PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACTS (LESS ANIMAL) VIOLATIONS CORRECTED SUMMONSES ISSUED COURT APPEARANCES (NON-JURY/JURY) TOTAL ISSUES FOR MONTH UNUSUAL EVENTS 33 4 22 69 46 9 8 129 60 13 17 7 51 15 603 0 0 4 335 183 11 26 0 24 48 135 116 (713) 38 234' 484 4 2 2730 • • BRIEF NARRATIVE: 75 illegal signs removed; vehicle escort duties, week of May 13 ; traffic • contr. 1 by five officers on May 16 due to traf c accident in Littleton. &. t. o:z..-