West Memphis getting ready to step up code enforcement

West Memphis getting ready to step up code enforcement

City looks to add additional officer, shift responsibilities, or take other action to curtail violations

news@theeveningtimes.com

Tall unkempt grass, junk vehicles in yards, and tires piled in vacant lots are all too common woes for members of the West Memphis City Council.

Their frustration has led the Police Commission and the Public Works Commission to consider a joint meeting to explore ways to “get more aggressive” with code enforcement around the city.

The coordinated effort makes sense, as the city currently staffs a dedicated Code Enforcement Officer, a position that is funded through the Police Department but reports to the Public Works Department. He keeps office hours and routinely patrols the city enforcing municipal codes.

Commissioners on both panels are looking for coverage that includes weekends. Much of the illegal tire dumping occurs under the cover of night and nonpermitted often takes place over the weekend.

Public Works Chair Ramona Taylor reported to city council during its first meeting of the year.

“We had some discussion about adding another fulltime code enforcement officer,” said Taylor.

During the commission meeting, commissioners weighed the impact of having a uniformed police officer doing code enforcement. There was a brief discussion about cleaning up the city by adding code enforcement duties to the new Community Outreach Position.

“We could use that funding to do those things — to me that is so much more important,” said Keep West Memphis Beautiful coordinator Lorraine Robinson.

“There is $60,000 there.

We can change it. We need the cleanup part.”

Police Chief Donald Oakes addressed the code enforcement concerns during the Police Department’s annual budget hearing. He offered an aggressive alternative and cautioned that not all elected city officials have embraced swift code enforcement in the past.

“The codes I get complaints on aren’t the ones the building inspectors are handling,” said Oakes.

“Ours are abandoned vehicles, parking issues, the junk and the trash.”

Patrol officers aren’t currently trained for code enforcement since the code officer reports not to the police but to community developmentÅ. Right now writing code warnings or citations is out of the wheelhouse for patrol officers.

“The problem I have now is patrolmen have absolutely no idea what those ordinances are because we have not had the responsibility of dealing with those ordinances since it was moved to another department,” said Oakes.

The West Memphis Police Department funds the position now and the chief said no budget adjustments would be needed to move code enforcement back under his purview. Oakes said there was a powerful multiplication factor at work if city council moved code enforcement back under the purview of the police department.

“With training in place, now you’d have not one officer but 80 officers watching for violations,” said Oakes. “You’re going to have a much more aggressive code enforcement, because our officers will probably write tickets quicker than the clerk’s office chooses to write tickets. We’ll go see it, take a picture, write them a warning, and follow-up with a ticket.”

“That’s exactly what we’ve been talking about,” said Taylor.

“That’s what we want — aggressive — because some of that stuff has been out there for years,” said Robinson. “We need a new norm and the only thing that will change that is aggressive enforcement.”

The chief called for clarification on codes and specifics on enforcement.

“The other thing we need to clean some of the ordinances up,” said Oakes.

“Make it very clear to me. I get mixed messages from councilmen on enforcement. Some of them like it some of them don’t. So, if we package them up and you say this what we want and this is what you do, then we go and do what your guidance is.”

Police commission chair Willis Mondy responded, announcing intentions for a joint meeting of the public works and police commission. While no date was set, he told the full city council he intended for the combined session for later in January.

By John Rech