Overworked Code Officer May Get Help

With residents complaining about trash-strewn yards and overcrowded homes in some neighborhoods, the City Council may give the city’s lone code enforcement officer more power to issue citations and more help with his paperwork.

The council discussed Monday changing the priorities and procedures for Moorpark’s code enforcement program, the government office charged with making sure property owners and renters follow the city’s many building rules.

With just one officer in the field, the program can take as long as three weeks to respond to some complaints.

Council members suggested giving enforcement officer Mario Riley more authority to issue fines for violations. In many cases, Riley needs City Manager Steve Kueny’s approval before citing a property owner for not following city rules.

“We need to give the code enforcement officer more authority,” Councilman John Wozniak said. “Either we have the right people in place or we don’t.”

The city also could hire an administrative assistant to handle the clerical work, which takes up about 40% of Riley’s time.

Although they held off making concrete changes, preferring to wait until city staff has a chance to study some of the proposals, several council members said they wanted to strip several layers of bureaucracy from the program.

“It’s become an administrative morass,” Mayor Paul Lawrason said.

The program has handled 480 cases this year, covering everything from overcrowded houses to cars parked on lawns.

“In my area, there’s just rubbish, stripped cars, abandoned cars and trash,” said Tony Simen, who lives in the Virginia Colony neighborhood. Simen, who has asked the city to investigate several unkempt properties near his home, said the program needs more enforcement officers.

“The job is just too much for one person to even think about handling,” he said. “What it boils down to is we just don’t have any code enforcement.”

Adding an officer could cost the city about $55,000 in salary and benefits, according to Nelson Miller, director of community development. Although council members discussed the possibility Monday, they seemed more inclined to hire an assistant to handle the program’s administrative chores, freeing up Riley to spend more time in the field.

“We need to get the code enforcement officer we have on the street,” Wozniak said.

Some of the larger issues surrounding the program were left undecided Monday. Councilwoman Eloise Brown wants the city to place more emphasis on correcting visible problems--poorly maintained homes and junk-filled yards, for example--than on hunting for overcrowded houses. But other council members disagree, saying the city needs to address the root causes of those problems rather than simply treating the symptoms.