Code enforcement roundtable provides city officials with support and ideas

Oct. 13—A large group of officials from various cities in northern Indiana met in the Logansport council chambers Thursday morning to exchange ideas and strategies at a code enforcement roundtable.

"We have a very good turnout," Logansport Code Enforcement Officer Randy Ulery said. "It's a very big topic for everybody right now. I know a lot of the information is kind of over everybody's heads, but we're soaking it all in."

Ulery, Logansport Building Commissioner Rob Rennewanz and Logansport Police Department Chief Travis Yike helped lead discussion at the beginning of the roundtable.

Officials from about 15 other cities including Fort Wayne, Warsaw, Frankfort, Monticello and Mishawaka also provided insight into code enforcement struggles and triumphs in their respective cities.

"We have mayors, we have building commissioners, we have building inspectors, we have code enforcement and police chiefs," Ulery said. "We have a very wide variety."

Topics covered at the beginning of the roundtable included code enforcement's responsibilities in different cities, how violations and fines are handled and enforced, which violations are most common, how officials determine whether properties are vacant, how to keep people from squatting at vacant properties, issues with people living out of recreational vehicles and enforcing ordinances that restrict farm animals like chickens and ducks within city limits.

Ulery told the roundtable that one of the biggest challenges with code enforcement in Logansport is communication. While writing notices in both Spanish and English has helped, he said some residents who have recently relocated to Logansport are unclear about the expectations for properties within city limits.

"We had some properties a while ago that had no water in the house, and they were using swimming pools in the back to take baths with and do dishes, all that stuff," Ulery said. "That was just how they lived, and they didn't see a problem with it. That was normal, everyday life where they came from. That's one of those issues we'd like to see how everybody else has addressed."

Officials from Warsaw described their use of a phone service that utilizes interpreters.

An official from Frankfort said his department tries to place clear boundaries between various departments' responsibilities.

"You've got to separate code enforcement issues from building service issues," he said. "You get wrapped up in code enforcement and buildings fall apart."

He added that Frankfort sometimes gets overwhelmed with enforcement violations so they typically try to give people a few days to fix the issues.

One code violation that has been a widespread problem is people living inside campers and recreational vehicles in their yards or driveways . Many cities have ordinances against residents living in non-permanent dwellings.

"In Warsaw, it's in our city ordinance where a trailer or an RV has to be in an established recreational facility for sewage and stuff like that," said Warsaw Code Enforcement Officer Dana Hewitt. "If it's just sitting on a property, that's not a designated recreational area. They've got to move it."

Hewitt added that Warsaw typically struggles more with rental properties because it can be difficult to know how many people are actually living in a residence.

Many other officials agreed that they struggle to determine how many people live in residences as well because some residents say they have family visiting, but those additional family members never leave and cause the residences to exceed their occupancies.

Officials also discussed difficulty with trash pickup. An official from Monticello shared that before the current mayor was elected, code enforcement was unable to write tickets because enforcement ordinances "had no teeth."

Now, the Monticello Street Department has a regular spring cleanup where residents can set their larger trash outside and the street department picks it up and disposes of it for free.

Ulery then described Logansport's bulk trash pickup that occurs once a month. He also added that a man who lives outside the city regularly drives in front of him while he is examining properties to pick up certain items like scrap metal and old appliances so he can scrap them himself.

The roundtable members also discussed how they keep record of vacant properties. Officials from Mishawaka described working with the utility company to determine whether a residence is vacant and making it clear that no one should be in those buildings after dark.

Warsaw officials said they also work with utility companies. However, they will also talk to mail carriers who deliver around the area.

Officials in Monticello talked about a document they share among their departments that lists nuisance and vacant properties. They add to that document whenever they encounter a vacant property.

Ulery said it was helpful for everyone to share ideas and learn about how departments in other cities handle similar situations.

"There's a very big difference in cities because code enforcement here is very broad and general," he said. "Frankfort and Warsaw and all them, they're split. You have your police department and your building department. You don't have it combined. That is a big thing we've learned, and we've learned that everybody is dealing with the same problems."

The code enforcement roundtable is only the beginning for Logansport. Logansport Mayor Chris Martin said he hopes to host more department roundtables in the city building.

"We're going to plan on doing other roundtables for other departments," he said. "It's great. I'm very excited."