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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-03-19 CEAC MINUTES• • • I. II. ~ Call to Order City of Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee Minutes from the Meeting of March 19, 2008 Chair Chris Hoagland called the regular meeting of the Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee (CEAC) to order at 6:30 p .m . Roll Call. Present: Chris Hoagland, Marjorie Becker, Jill Wilson, Marty Mosman (arrived 6:45 pm). Excused: Brian Bleile. As Ron Rutherford and Robert Zucarro have resigned from the Committee, there are five remaining members. The bylaws of the Committee say a quorum consists of a simple majority of regular members . Therefore, a quorum of three members which is present is sufficient to hold this meeting. Ex-Officio Members Present: Council Liaisons Bob Mccaslin and Randy Penn, Staff Liaison Mike Flaherty, and Sergeant Christian Contos. Guests: Englewood residents Barb Bowman (left at 7:05 pm), Kristine and Michael Dafni (left at 7:05 pm), and Mayor Jim Woodward, City Council Member John Moore, Police Chief Tom Vandermee, and Police Commander Sam Watson . Approval of Minutes There were no amendments to the minutes of the January 2008 meeting. A Motion was made by Marjorie Becker to approve the minutes of the January 16, 2008 CEAC meeting. Jill Wilson seconded the Motion. A vote was taken and the Motion carried. No meeting was held in February due to lack of a quorum. III. .El Public Open Forum Barb Bowman, 4715 South Galapago , has lived in Englewood over 50 years. In the last 7 to 10 years , she has seen Englewood go down in appearance and is concerned about lack of emollment in the schools, references to Englewood as the 'hood ', and older properties which are being sold to slumlords who don't care. She doesn 't want Englewood to have covenants; she just wants the properties cleaned up and to hold landlords and homeowners responsible for their property . She wants to 'Keep Englewood Beautiful', and had understood some council members ran for election with an agenda to clean up Englewood . She suggests more fines and quicker action to clean up the City . Kris Dafni, a resident for the last eight years at 4710 South Galapago , has concern about rental properties that are in disrepair. She has observed a person living in a garage with no plumbing, junk vehicles parked in yards , papers not being picked up for days , trash in yards, over grown tree branches , doors hanging off their hinges , etc. She's concerned about the appearance of the neighborhood and safety issues . Something needs to be done so people take pride in where they live and want to maintain their property. We don't need more codes or rules; we need to enforce the ones we have. Michael Dafni , 4710 South Galapago, spoke on inoperable vehicles, gang presence in Englewood, untrimmed vegetation in yards, trash cans left out on streets, etc. The City is paying code employees to look for violations, why aren't they seeing these problems? Mr. Dafni enjoys freedoms , but said we need boundaries and rules need to be enforced. Public Open Forum guests were encouraged to get involved and apply for board and commission positions . ~ Introduction of Police Chief Thomas Vandermee Chief Vandermee, appointed February 25, 2008 after 35 years with the Englewood Police Department, discussed the philosophy of Community Policing and goals of the Police Department in terms of code enforcement. The City needs to garner vol untary compliance through education, enforcement, and allowing officers to apply discretion in enforcing and generating compliance . Their department is putting into place proactive measures such as problem identification, problem solving, and establishing partnerships in dealing with those problems. Code officers have been assigned to three new geographical areas of enforcement coinciding with those of police officers. Code officer Caroline Faseruk is assigned to the enforcement of zoning issues, abatement of code issues, and City Council requests and citizen requests . Police officers will receive training on code enforcement issues so they can support the code officers by being more proactive and conducting preliminary code investigations as they patrol their assigned district. In addition, City departments such as Public Works or Utilities who are in the field every day can also partner with code officers. And through public education, hopefully citizens will also buy into this and partner with the City. With this new emphasis, ChiefVandermee is very optimistic we 'll see results. Discussion ensued on various related topics . IV. New Business A. Resignations of CEAC members Ron Rutherford and Koren Lowrimore Other than comments at the beginning of the meeting, there was no discussion on this topic. V. Unfinished Business A. Request for City Council feedback on policy change regarding snow removal, warnings, and ticketing. B. No feedback was received from Council on the Motion made and approved by the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee January 16, 2008. City Attorney's Office Abatement Memorandum The Committee discussed abatements and the costs associated with abatement. 2 • • • • • • c. A Motion was made by Chris Hoagland and Marjorie Becker requesting that the City Attorney's office change the ordinance so that actual costs of an abatement are calculated and charged to the property owner. Marty Mosman seconded the Motion. A vote was taken and the Motion passed. ~ Decriminalization of Weeds As the City Attorney's office rewrite of the weed ordinance incorporating decriminalization was preliminary, a suggestion was made to add decriminalization as a third track to the existing ordinance so code officer would have a choice of writing a ticket, doing an abatement, or writing a civil citation. D. 1fi] Review of corrected draft of Vicious Animal Ordinance The Committee did not have a corrected draft of this ordinance and, therefore, nothing was discussed. However, Mayor Woodward asked that the Committee move this forward as expeditiously as possible and have in final form for the April Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meeting . He would like it submitted to City Council in May. The ordinance was originally introduced in November 2005 and this is now March 2008. VI. -Code Enforcement Monthly Report Sergeant Contos provided a brief Monthly Activity report. He also distributed a neighborhood services brochure to the Committee members. The information included in the flyer wiil be made available to the citizens of Englewood potentially through the Englewood Citizen newsletter, the City 's web site, through neighborhood watch block meetings, and distributed as an information piece by code officers as they talk with citizens each day . Discussion ensued. VII. ~ General Comments Jim Woodward advised that at a recent Chamber After Hours event, an Englewood business owner commented on the absence of graffiti in the City of Englewood and what a great job the City is doing in handling graffiti. VIII. Topics for Future Meetings • Approval of the Vicious Animal Ordinance • Amendment of the ordinance pertaining to Snow Removal • Amendment of the ordinance pertaining to Cutting and Removal of Weeds and Grass IX. f1i Adjournment A Motion was made by Marjorie Becker to adjourn the meeting. Marty Mosman seconded the Motion. The meeting adjourned at 8:41 pm . Submitted by cr::.ua.. 2'~ 3