Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout20201119_J Tevis ORDINANCEFrom:John Tevis To:Board of Health Subject:public comment regarding Compliance Code Ordinance Date:Thursday, November 19, 2020 2:20:31 PM Attachments:WSU study on Code Enf Oct 2016.pdf a typo.png CAUTION: This email originated from outside your organization. Exercise caution whenopening attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown senders. To the Board of Health and the Board of County Commissioners: In October of 2016, Philip Morley directed a study about the lack of code enforcement in Jefferson County (attached), authored by Laura Lewis, then director of the local WSU extension. As you know, my neighbors and I have advocated for the last two and a half years for a coherent code enforcement program in Jefferson County that would emphasize interdepartmental cooperation and public-faced accessibility. Ms. Lewis’s study couldn’t have been more clear on those points. A few of you were aware of the problem at least since the publication of the report, as evidenced by its distribution chain. Yet when we jump-started the conversation about this county-wide issue in April 2018, many of you looked at us as if we were speaking Greek. Others of you denied the problem existed and stood in our way. We support—by and large—the County’s efforts to tweak the language in this ordinance to bring the worst offenders to heel. Though we question the sudden urgency to complete a project four years in the making, we appreciate that the county faces a myriad of inter- related problems. But we are discouraged by the deliberate vagueness in the language of the ordinance and alarmed by the likelihood that even more power will be vested in the unelected County Administrator. We also know from experience that hiring someone to address code compliance issues doesn’t mean that the county will actually address these issues, a situation that will only be exacerbated by the unclear language regarding the county’s discretion to pursue code violations. In a county where solid waste is dumped willy nilly on abandoned propertiesour code compliance officer cites people for building a yurt. In the middle of a housing crisis. Speaking of priorities, shortly after Ms. Murdock was hired and began her work in the summer of 2019, we called on her to help us with a new problem of illegal dumping in our neighborhood: seven RVs chock full of metal debris dumped across the street from our homes. Not my job, in short, was her reply. In a sleight of county hand, her job description had changed and solid waste was not in her portfolio. That responsibility was shifted right back to where it had been for years, hidden from the public in Environmental Health and funded only for a half-time position by a state grant. For the first nine months of her tenure she prioritized the investigation of a decade-long backlog of complaints and not the most pressing concerns facing the county. 14 months later, the last two trailers were finally hauled away last month, largely through the efforts of Pinky Mingo, who, when you visit the code compliance page on DCD’s website, is not listed. Because, as you know, she works in Environmental Health. Who but a county employee or someone who has spent years working on this issue would know this? If you need to report a solid waste violation in Jefferson County, you must call the general number for Public Health. After two and half years of support for this position, we are right back at square one; we resent your use of our advocacy for such obfuscation. We need specific language in this ordinance that works for citizens instead of creating the opportunity for mission creep. In a document rich in detail regarding infractions, there is precious little about how each department will pursue their responsibilities. When you write about a “director” (page 7) please name the department that this individual works for. When you describe the guidelines (19.10.035) for which problems are to be addressed first, please make clear in black and white that the “director” or the director’s proxy actually addresses the serious problems, rather than citing people for expanding a deck. I would also call on the county commissioners themselves to step up here. I—we all—applaud you for your hard work. But we didn’t ask you to run for your offices. This is an emergency. Your own job descriptions allow great leeway in asserting your executive authority as well as your normal legislative and quasi-judicial responsibilities. With regard to the hard work occasioned by the eventual passing of this ordinance, carve out a role for yourselves. For example, each of you could resolve code violations in the districts you represent. That would place Commissioner Dean squarely in charge of the inhumane situation at the Fairgrounds and leave the unincorporated parts of the county that are swimming in solid waste to Greg Brotherton and the incoming commissioner from District 2. That way the code compliance officer will have time to cite people for building yurts. Thank you.