"Mr Retz, the mayor is venting a frustration that I'm sure you know many people feel. Please tell us what things, if any, are in your way of creating more effective code enforcement. Some things you may want to touch on (and I would appreciate it if you would) are:
- Guidance from the council. Mr Shanaa has said tonight that currently there is no council guidance. In what way could such guidance help you?
- The ordinances. Are the ordinances you enforce clear? Are they sufficient to cover the problems you see in your daily work? We will of course seek information on this subject from many sources, but your information is particularly important because you deal with the situations we're concerned about every day.
- Organization. We've heard that code enforcement has been an orphan child, moving from department to department in the city government. What effect has this "homelessness" had? Where do you think this function belongs organizationally."
I blame none of the council for not being this ideal. I didn't think of these questions until at least 24 hours after I listened to the Thursday session. But if the council gets another chance to review code enforcement, they may want to pursue this line with the Director.
Same behavior was apparent from mayor in a previous council meeting when topic of city sharing costs of roads with developers came up. Very quickly city staff, Tony M. was put on hot seat with questions like wouldn't it be expensive to build roads later rather than share cost now? Without a cost analysis as in project by project, idea that city would incur more expense later sounds premature(especially from someone that has the skills of a accountant which was emphasized during May election campaign).
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