BasicGov / BLOG

There is a good article in a local newspaper Florida that outlines the important work of code enforcement officers. Here is a link to the article titled Understanding Code Enforcement, written by reporter, Gavin Wernicki, of the SWVolusia News.

From the article …

First, and probably most obvious function of Code Enforcement, is they are the front line in the battle of controlling blight. It has been said that they are the imaginary line that represents that fence between gated communities and “the rest of the world.”

…

The top ten violations

• Animals at large
• Inoperative motor vehicles
• Motor vehicle parking
• Recreational vehicles parking (boats, watercraft, campers)
• Registration stickers
• Tractor-trailer parking
• Commercial vehicles parking
• Yard maintenance
• Junk, trash and debris in yards
• No permits

Code Enforcement Officers are often times misunderstood as they are affecting people’s lives, livelihoods, and their cultures. When challenged to change, people become defensive. They have a difficult job and seldom fully appreciated, but vital for our community’s health, safety and welfare.

It is encouraging to see that in a recent survey conducted by Mustel Group and sponsored by us (BasisGov) that software is being used by local governments to help manage neighborhood complaints (code enforcement) but there is still a myth among the non-users that it is costly.

• Approximately 80% said that the foreclosure crisis has resulted in an increase in citizen complaints over the past year;
• The most frequent complaints were overgrown yards (87%), property damage (61%) and garbage dumping (47%);
• 88% do not plan to increase staff to manage the overall problem;
• 79% of the municipalities surveyed use software applications to manage their code enforcement process and already one in four of those were using web-based software;
• among non-users, 61% thought cost a deterrent in planning to implement software.

With the rise in foreclosures, increase in related complaints at city halls and the freeze on hiring more staff, overcoming the high cost myth will help many municipalities.

Do you think cost is the only deterrent?

(Photo credit – http://www.flickr.com/photos/respres/ / CC BY 2.0)