01/29/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Special Council Minutes of 1/29/2008 have that structure in that way. With respect to the Building Dept., today Safety Director Lisa Thomas presented an initiative for a property maintenance draft proposal from the administration. It includes personnel of three full-time equivalent property maintenance inspectors and one full-time secretary which is in the ordinance. The supervision will be with the Building Commissioner and the Safety Director. The program plan would include every residential structure that would be inspected once every two years. Two wards would be inspected yearly. Complaints would be routinely handled. Special attention will be given to foreclosed or sale properties and targeted programs with street resurfacing and new sidewalks. The suggested proposal from the administration was inspectors would use an exterior inspection checklist to identify problem areas that would include hangtags left with homeowners identifying minor issues. There would be short compliance dates on minor problems. Reinspections would be scheduled right into the work plan. Violation notices on major problems would be issued. There would be focus on compliance. It's the expectation that we'll see some further discussion on atwo-tiered penalty system for code violations, minor misdemeanors, or ticket for non-compliance, increased penalties for major offenses to fourth degree misdemeanors, and focus on compliance by getting cases to court faster. Under the fourth component of that, we would target enforcement on streets being repaved or getting new sidewalks. We'd have a spring and summer house painting initiative, monitor foreclosure lists, register nuisance complaints with E-Gov, and special monitoring efforts between NOPD and Building for vacant properties. Our expectation from the Safety Dept. is we'd have trained inspectors to see things with the same set of eyes. We'd use graphics and PDA's, create exterior checklists on the real property maintenance code, and coordinate with the computer system. Three full-time equivalent property maintenance inspectors salary and benefit, one full-time secretary salary and benefit, administrative additional costs would bring the budget to about $260,000. The restructuring of the division of Engineering falls within 2007-157, a resolution extending and amending the city's consulting engineering contract with Richard L. Bowen & Associates, Inc., which inter alia provides for the renewal of the appointment of Daniel J. Collins to be City Engineer and for the appointment of Pietro A. DiFranco to be Assistant City Engineer, and declaring an emergency as amended. The proposal would be to use Bowen to provide engineering services and to enter into the contract attached thereto and to also have outside inspection services arranged for by Bowen. The two changes that we would have to make to this legislation would be to substitute Mr. DiFranco for Mr. Cave and to change to a one-year from a two-year contract term, which was the administration's request. Councilman Gareau made a motion to amend Ordinance 2007-156 part B so that it reads: "three full-time equivalent property maintenance inspectors" which adds the word "equivalent." Also, after the word "inspectors" in that same sentence to remove the words "and one seasonal part-time property maintenance inspector" so that the paragraph will end with, "three full-time equivalent property maintenance inspectors." Law Director Dubelko asked, so it was clear on the record, if it would be Council's intention to authorize the administration to hire for those positions, not necessarily three full-time people but, for example, two full-time people and two part-time people, the total four. Councilman Gareau said that was the discussion at the committee meeting, whether you had three full-time staff members, three humans versus four, five or six. We could 2