HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/3/2023 Item 8a, Tway and Loew - Staff Agenda CorrespondenceCity of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum
City of San Luis Obispo
Council Agenda Correspondence
DATE: October 3, 2023
TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: Timmi Tway, Community Development Director
Michael Loew, Deputy Director/ Chief Building Official
John Mezzapesa, Code Enforcement Supervisor
VIA: Derek Johnson, City Manager
SUBJECT: ITEM 8a - STUDY SESSION: CODE ENFORCEMENT UPDATE
Staff received the following questions regarding the Code Enforcement Update, Item 8a.
The questions are below, with staff’s responses shown in italics:
1. How many code enforcement positions do our neighboring jurisdictions
have? (Pismo, Paso, AG, etc?)
Paso Robles – No designated Code Enforcement Officers. A combination of
Community Services Officers in the Police Department and
Building Inspectors under Community Development respond
to complaints.
Atascadero – One (1) full-time Code Enforcement Officer under the Police
Department.
Morro Bay – One (1) part-time Code Enforcement Officer and one (1) full-
time Code Enforcement Officer/Building Inspector.
Pismo Beach – One (1) full-time Code Enforcement Officer under Community
Development.
Grover Beach – One (1) full-time Code Compliance Officer under Community
Development.
Arroyo Grande – One (1) full-time Community Services Specialist under
Community Development.
2. On the tables on Page 143 and 167, can you clarify: 1) what the priority is for
shopping carts, polystyrene, straws? And 2) who is responsible for
shopping cart enforcement?
Shopping Carts – Priority 4 (72-hour response)
Polystyrene – Priority 4 (72-hour response)
Single Use Plastic Straws – Priority 4 (72-hour response)
Code Enforcement Technicians are responsible for responding to reported
abandoned shopping carts. When the complaint comes in, the business that owns
the cart is notified through an automatic email. Code Enforcement Technicians are
responsible for checking whether the correct business was notified (field
Item 8a. Code Enforcement Study Session Page 2
verification is often required), and whether the cart has remained three days after
notification. If it remains, Public Works staff is notified to remove the cart. If a cart
is removed by Public Works three times within a designated six-month period (Jan
1 thru June 30, or July 1 thru Dec. 31), then technicians will issue a citation for
repeated violations.
3. It looks like CETs have almost the same level of responsibility for
enforcement, but of different areas, than the CEOs from the table on 167. Is
that true?
This is true. The enforcement procedures (issuance of violation notices, citations
etc.) are the same for both CET and CEO positions.
CET and CEO positions differ in their level of experience, competence, and training
provided to handle high-level code enforcement issues. CETs would only perform
inspections from the public right of way and are not expected to enter onto private
property to perform inspections, as they have less experience surrounding rights
of entry and Fourth Amendment protections.
4. How many safe housing citations or notifications of violation have we given
in the last few years? How much money (in revenue) has that equated to?
(table on Page 161)
A manual work effort to individually sift through citations is required to determine
the number of issued citations directly related to Safe Housing violations. The
current software that staff uses does not allow for easy reporting on invoices by
case type, such as what is being requested.
In general, when violations are identified as part of a safe housing situation,
especially considering the complex landlord/tenant relationship, officers have
placed an emphasis on gaining voluntary compliance by working closely with
tenants and property owners in an effort to avoid the issuing of citations.
5. On page 150, I don’t see a notation for safe housing complaints. Are those
included with one of the other categories?
Safe Housing Complaints are encompassed across the following categories
shown on Figure 2.2 on page 150:
• Health & Safety Violations
• Unpermitted Construction (Completed)
• Substandard Rental Housing (Tenant Occupied)
• Substandard Housing (Owner Occupied)
• Unsafe Occupancy
Not all complaints within these categories will be considered “Safe Housing
Complaints.” The number of “Safe Housing Complaints” have been isolated and
reported in Section 3.2 of the report. Figure 3.1 depicts the number of Safe Housing
related complaints and code enforcement cases for the past year.
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6. I think you said, in relation to the table on page 152 that the number of total
non-COVID code enforcement complaints has gone up in the last few years,
but the number of neighborhood services complaints has gone down. Can
you explain this and do neighborhood services complaints include safe
housing? (I don’t think so, but just want to make sure I am understanding
correctly.)
Neighborhood Services Complaints generally do not include safe housing issues.
The number of complaints or reported violations are shown in Figure 2.1 on page
149. Complaints only result in code enforcement cases after an officer determines
the existence of a violation through an investigation. Overall, investigation requests
for Fiscal year 2022-23 have increased by approximately 82% when compared to
the average number of requests (excluding COVID related issues) for the previous
six fiscal years. Factors for the increase in requests may be related to the
implementation of the city’s new Resident Inquiry System (AskSLO), less proactive
enforcement activities due to staff vacancies, and creation of the new Shopping
Cart ordinance.
The table (Figure 2.4) on page 152 depicts the number of cases opened (or
confirmed violations) over the past seven fiscal years. The data in Figure 2.4
shows a relatively comparable number of non-neighborhood services cases
(“NSS” or Code Cases) opened and a drop in the number of neighborhood services
cases for both proactive and reported violations. The decrease in NSS cases is
related to the lack of available Code Enforcement Technicians to provide proactive
enforcement and, in an effort to maintain a high level of service, the remaining
Code Enforcement Officers worked to resolve NSS requests in the field.
7. How many units were inspected as part of the previous Rental Housing
Inspection Program and what issues were identified?
Staff presented a report to Council on the program during the February 2017
Special Council Meeting. An attachment to that report contains information about
properties that were inspected and can be found here:
http://opengov.slocity.org/WebLink/DocView.aspx?id=63043&dbid=0&repo=CityC
lerk
8. Staff update and clarification for data in Figure 2.2 of the Council Agenda
Report:
The numbers on this table do not match figure 2.2 on page 150 of the agenda
report, as staff realized that requests received prior to the implementation of
AskSLO in October of 2022 were not included in the data. This table has been
updated to include all requests for the last fiscal year:
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