Code Enforcement 2016 Annual Report

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2016 Annual Report— Department of Code Enforcement 3 Executive Summary The work of Code Enforcement is undeniably difficult;however,every employee continues to serve the public with a high level of professionalism and outstanding customer service. Having said that,we know there is room for improvement. One way to better assist the community we serve,is to promote our services and share information. In 2016 we developed r informational brochures that include helpful information pertaining to Code Enforcement. These brochures can also be conveniently accessed by visiting our updated website. The brochures cover topics such as: Neighborhood Code Enforcement, Parking Guidelines, Neighborhood Cleanup, Dumping Prevention,Vacant and Abandoned Property,and Renovate Right: Lead Paint. The feedback has been extremely positive. Employee education and training is something that is important to us. Inspectors, office staff and Animal Care and Control were able to attend first aid and AED training as well as de- escalation training. Inspectors also attended asbestos training. We even had an office staff member trained in Behavioral Insights. Training efforts will continue in 2017 to include: diversity and inclusion training,asbestos training,and additional de-escalation training. In 2016,Code Enforcement asked for the cooperation of everyone who owns a property in South Bend,which is not personally occupied by the owner,to register the property(s)via the Landlord Registration program. At the end of the year,we had almost four thousand properties registered. The Landlord Registration is important because non-owner occupied properties continue to generate a majority of Code Enforcement issues. 72%of all environmental violations cited in 2016 were non-owner occupied. Of all properties identified as vacant and abandoned between December 2015 and December 2016,81%were owned by someone living outside of South Bend. Being able to identify,and contact,a property owner is imperative; especially in emergency situations such as a house fire or when investigating the inadequate housing of renters. We do expect to see the number of registrations increase as more people are made aware of the requirement to register. We were able to meet many of our goals for 2016; lowering the number of uncollectible abatements was one of them. We surpassed our goal with an average of 95%abatements being billable. The average percentage of environmental citations cleaned by owner was 54%,which surpassed our set target. We just missed the goal that was set for the number of animals returned to owner by.04%. An impressive four million pounds of litter and debris and 6,314 tires were abated by the NEAT Crew in 2016. 1 would like to thank the outstanding staff of Code Enforcement,the Mayor's Office, Police and Fire Departments, Human Resources, Central Services, Legal Department,and the Department of Community Investment for their continued support. Respectfully Yours, Tracy Skibins Deputy Director of Code Enforcement 1300 County-City Building, 227 W. Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, IN 46601 Rev MI 3 10 17