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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-11-15 CEAC MINUTES• • • I. II. Call to Order City of Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee Minutes of November 15, 2006 Chair Dooley Gehr called the regular meeting of the Englewood Code Enforcement Advisory Committee (CEAC) to order at 6 :33 p.m. Roll Call Members Present: Chair Dooley Gehr, Co-Chair Chris Hoagland, Marjorie Becker, Brian Bleile, Paul Hendricks, and Marty Mosman. Members Absent: Erik Foster (resignation pending). A quorum of the Committee was present. Ex-Officio Members Present: Council Liaison Jim Woodward, Mike Flaherty, Commander Sam Watson, and Sergeant Gary Condreay. Ex-Officio Members Absent: Council Liaison Laurett Barrentine . Guest: City Council Member Bob Mccaslin. Approval of Minutes Chair Gehr asked for corrections to the minutes of the September 20, 2006 meeting. There were none. A motion to approve the minutes of the September 20, 2006 Code Enforcement Advisory Committee meeting as distributed was made by Member Hoagland and seconded by Member Mosman. The minutes were unanimously approved. There was no meeting in October because of a lack of a quorum. Ill. Open Public Forum IV. No Open Public Forum was held. Unfinished Business Marty Mosman, who headed up the CEAC FunFest committee, provided a report on the 2006 Fun Fest activity. This event was rained out, but she advised that most of the materials and preparations can be used for the 2007 Fun Fest if the committee decides to use them. A copy of her report is attached. 1 v. New Business A. Status of Code Trak Reporting System Commander Watson advised that Code Enforcement trucks have been outfitted with hardware and mounts needed for the Code Trak system, laptop computers have been issued to officers, and training is complete. The vendor is sending a software upgrade to facilitate attachment of forms to Code Trak reports. When this upgrade is made, officers will be able to access everything from their trucks -pull up an address history, and print reports, notices and postings. At the end of each shift, officers will remove the computer from their vehicle and plug it into a docking station on their desk to download everything they did for the day in Code Trak. They'll be able to generate reports from this information. B. Update on Recent Council Discussions on Code Enforcement Issues Member Flaherty advised that Council has discussed several matters that initially were addressed by the Code Enforcement Advisory Committee, and that discussions are continuing on some of these matters. At the November 27th Study Session, Council is scheduled to discuss the dangerous dog ordinance. Discussions may include the possibility of a breed specific ban and modifying some of the definitions included in the ordinance. Graffiti will also be coming back for discussion. On December 11th Council is scheduled to discuss nuisance ordinances such as weeds. Trailers will also be coming back for discussion at some point. Discussion ensued on these issues and why they are resurfacing. It was expressed that the amount of time Council takes to work through issues is important and necessary in order to write the ordinances properly. Also while preparing Council meeting Agendas, topics are often rescheduled when other issues take precedence. Member Flaherty noted that these code issues aren't without controversy; we've received input from both sides of the issues. In talking about the dog issue, there is support for the specific breed ban and there's a great deal of opposition as well. There is support for vicious dog prohibitions or restrictions, but people come from all directions on the ban on breeds. Council will consider it, but this doesn 't mean they will go forward with a specific breed ban. There are many who hav e brought that forward as being an option the City should pursue because so many of our neighboring cities have done that; citizens have expressed that they don't want Englewood to become a dumping ground. And now we're hearing from the other side in very consistent e-mails that a number of people do not want to do a specific breed ban. So Council has a lot on their plate with this one. It may be difficult to come up with a solution that pleases everyone. C. Discussion on Cancellation of December 20, 2006 Meeting Chair Gehr suggested the Committee consider cancellation of the December 20th meeting because of the holidays to allow members time to enjoy the holiday with family and friends . Discussion ensued. 2 • • • • • • Member Becker made a motion to cancel the December 20, 2006 meeting. This was seconded by Member Mosman. A vote was taken; the motion carried by a majority 3 to 2 vote. Members Bleile and Hoagland were opposed. Chair Gehr abstained. Member Hendricks suggested asking City Council to not meet on Yorn Kippur in respect to the Jewish religion and their high holy days. If this is forwarded to Council early, they will be able to give this some thought, put feelers out in the community, discuss and make a decision before Yorn Kippur in 2007. VI. Code Enforcement Monthly Activity Report Sergeant Condreay presented the Monthly Activity Report. Animal calls increased significantly from 92 up to 139. Animals Running-at-Large is at 65 with another third that were UTL (Unable to Locate). Attack and Attack (Bite) are back up to 12. And Inoperable Vehicles is up a bit. Commander Watson interjected that the animal statistics coincide with the Council meeting where a number of people expressed concern about animals Running-At-Large. The direction provided to Code Enforcement was to focus on this -spend the time to follow-up and take the appropriate action. So that's one of the reasons the number of Running-At- Large is up. Members reported the following locations where new graffiti has been spotted: • Englewood High School garbage cans have been hit; the Englewood symbol was painted all green which left a perfect canvas for tagging. • The phone box at the corner of Mansfield and Logan in front of the high school. • The Greyhound Bus stop near Hampden and Broadway -on the back of the building. • Electrical or phone boxes in general. • Going east on the ramp from Broadway to Hampden, there's tagging on the light poles. • There is a lot more tagging on the local bus stops . • There is tagging on the walls by Walgreen's, Genroku (the sushi restaurant on Broadway), on the sides of buildings, and on the sidewalks. • And there is still a graffiti mark across Broadway from Flood Middle School on the older house that has been modified into a business. Chair Gehr noted there are two or three times during the year when graffiti spikes, and we're coming up on one now when the kids are off for two weeks. Member Hendricks commented that what's bad about graffiti is the feeling people get of being a victim but they can't do anything about it. Discussion ensued about retail stores locking spray paint up. Member Flaherty stated this is required in Englewood; an ordinance was passed about three years ago requiring paint to either be locked up or in view of the cashier . 3 Commander Watson indicated we have one school resource officer at this time and that this • program is funded strictly through the City of Englewood Safety Services Department. The schools are not participating in funding this. VII. Topics for Next Meeting • Update on Foreclosures. • Update on Dog Ordinance. • Update on Trailer Ordinance -final reading scheduled February 5th. • Final Graffiti Ordinance. VIII. Adjournment Member Mosman made a motion to adjourn the meeting; this was seconded by Member Bleile. There being no opposition, the motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 7:58 p.m. 4 • • • Englewood Fun Fest Report for Code Enforcement Board August 26, 2006 The event was cancelled due to weather conditions, however , most of the preparations and materials can be used for next years event if the board wants to try it again . Bean bag toss board game, with six bean bags was built, decorated and painted for the event. It is now in storage until next year . Easel displays explaining the duties and purpose of the Code Enforcement Unit and the Board, were written up and put on poster board by Chris Hogan. A map of the Code Enforcement Units territories was printed up by Sgt Watson . Brochures about Code Enforcement were provided by Sgt. Watson and his staff Code Enforcement Officer, Marjorie Payne was prepared to bring her exotic birds for display and education. Candy for the children was donated by both King Soopers and Safeway. • Volunteers were ready . Thanks to all who offered to spend time at the booth A tent and tables were available to set up the booth • Marty and Chris were ready to set up, Marjorie showed up early to set up for the birds . When the announcement was made to cancel, we just all went home. The brochures were returned to Sgt Watson The candy was given to the Englewood Recreation Department for the Halloween Party Thank you notes were written to King Soopers and Safeway on behalf of the board. There were no expenditures for this event, I suggest we consider participating next year and also maybe renting the tent and tables from the city next time. It would be a lot easier and not a large expense. Again, Thank you to the board for their interest and involvement, a special thanks to Chris Hogan for all his work and for the work he was prepared to do on the event.. Thank you to Sgt Watson and Officer Marjorie Payne,( and the birds) for all their work and interest.