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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK <br /> values include pride, adaptability, service and integrity. The Department of Code Enforcement has <br /> multiple divisions (referencing a slide in a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's <br /> Office). We have the Neighborhood Code Enforcement which, essentially, are our inspectors. We <br /> have office staff as well as the new rental unit inspection program. We have the Neighborhood <br /> Enforcement Action Team, or, the NEAT Crew as we call them. They are the folks on the ground <br /> and out there picking up the debris and abating properties. Also, of course, we have the South <br /> Bend Animal Care and Control. These all fall under the umbrella of Code Enforcement. Here <br /> (referencing a slide in the presentation) is a quick high-level snapshot of our organizational chart. <br /> She went on,Your time is very valuable to us. We have a lot of information to share,however,we <br /> broke it down into five(5)bullet points for today.Anything not covered in this presentation should <br /> be added to the supplemental pages in the very end of the hard copy you all have. We are first(1st) <br /> going to focus on the Home Program.The purpose of the program is to protect public health,safety <br /> and welfare in all rental units. It requires an occupancy inspection, occupied or intended-to-be <br /> occupied. We would like to restructure our department by turning two (2)part-time positions into <br /> two (2) full-time positions. The first(1St) would be the Financial Specialist III (3). The benefits of <br /> this would be having someone available to process the special assessments. That is one(1)of many <br /> reasons,by the way.It will also increase efficiency and revenue dollars collected.We also envision <br /> this person taking over collections as well. The second (21'1) position we are requesting is for <br /> Animal Care and Control and we will let Jen speak to that later on in our presentation. <br /> She continued, We also broke down how our inspectors do their job as well. They focus in three <br /> (3)different areas. One(1)is housing,one(1)is environmental and then a couple would be floaters <br /> to get whatever was missed. Maybe someone was away on vacation or there may be certain <br /> hotspots where these inspectors really need to focus. The benefits of this is specialization. They <br /> will all have a great overview of what it is a Code Inspector does,however,they will have specific <br /> training on housing and on environmental issues. Regarding the neighborhood clean-ups and out- <br /> reach, I think one (1) of the toughest parts of our jobs is when any of us run into properties in the <br /> City where we know that people, if they had the physical or financial ability, could make repairs <br /> that they would make repairs. They struggle with these things. So we worked with Rebuilding <br /> Together this past year as well as Back the Bend to repair a house on the south side of town. With <br /> some local union folks we repaired a roof on the northwest side of town. That was an amazing <br /> event that we hope to continue with moving on into the future. We also had a record-breaking ten <br /> (10) neighborhood clean-ups. Many of you participated in one (1) way or another. I think we do a <br /> pretty good job of making sure we don't just focus on one (1) area of town. It is pretty much all <br /> over the City where we have these clean-ups. We work with local neighborhood organizations, <br /> perhaps a church or a Boy Scout group. You name it,they reach out to us and ask for help. During <br /> those ten(1)neighborhood clean-ups, we collected over 16,800 pounds of debris. <br /> She went on, Uncontrolled dumping is something we struggle with and we know the residents are <br /> not happy with it either. To combat this,we've tried a few initiatives. One(1) of which is working <br /> with Solid Waste to install trash containers in places we know people are passing by and just <br /> dumping their litter. We also have installed a few 'No Dumping' signs that state there are fines up <br /> to $2,500 in places we know have been hit pretty hard. We are also trying to share the message <br /> with homeowners that to help prevent things like this from happening, consider cutting back <br /> debris, consider making that area well-lit, consider visiting the property more often and things of <br /> that nature. When people start to think that no one (1) cares about that property, they are more <br /> EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT <br /> 455 County-City Building 227WJefferson BvldISouth Bend.Indiana 466011p574.235.92211f574.235.91731TTD574.235.5567kwww.southbendin.gov <br /> 2 <br />