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Delta City officials held a lively discussion last week about developing a new code enforcement policy and begin cracking down on violators.
The city normally receives a complaint, verifies a potential code violation and sends a series of letters to residents or businesses in violation. The problem is those letters are often simply ignored, yet the city has no formal policy in place that allows city officials to act with any consistency.
This left one councilman stunned. “How is this not in place? How has this never been discussed in a hundred years of Delta City?” asked Councilman KC Bogue at last Wednesday’s regular council meeting.
Todd Anderson, the city’s attorney, said when he was first hired by the city, letters to residents and businesses about possible code violations carried more weight and had the intended effect. He said those days are gone.
“The perception of people in relation to government has changed. To where it’s screw the government, I can do whatever I want,” the attorney told council members.
The city’s public works director, Dent Kirkland, said about 80 percent of the communications the city sends to alleged code violators is routinely ignored.
Read more at millardccp.com.
