Springdale code enforcement evolves after complaints

Toby Lankford (right) and Logan West (left), both code enforcement officers, talk Friday with Roger Baker at one of Baker’s properties in Springdale. West is new to the department and Lankford was taking him around to talk to some of the people they will regularly work with. The pair cover the city west of Thompson Street.
Toby Lankford (right) and Logan West (left), both code enforcement officers, talk Friday with Roger Baker at one of Baker’s properties in Springdale. West is new to the department and Lankford was taking him around to talk to some of the people they will regularly work with. The pair cover the city west of Thompson Street.

SPRINGDALE -- The city is working to adjust enforcement methods after residents recently complained about what they described as overzealous code enforcement.

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Toby Lankford, code enforcement officer, talks with Rachelle Goddard on Friday in Springdale. Lankford and a partner cover the city west of Thompson Street.

Code enforcement stats

Springdale code enforcement issued 3,959 violation notices and 541 citations in 2016. Code enforcement issued 5,078 violation notices and 464 citations in 2015. The number of violations were down 22 percent in 2016 from 2015; however, the number of citations were up 14 percent in 2016 from 2015. There have been 867 violation notices and 52 citations issued so far this year.

Source: Melissa Reeves, public relations director for the city

"My biggest concern is that they went into my backyard, a fenced-in area, to look and write up a violation," said Carol Sherman, who lives in the 1900 block of Dogwood Place. "What this is really about is my Fourth Amendment rights. You can't just walk onto people's property and do whatever you want. There are laws to protect us from that."

About Springdale code enforcement

Springdale Community Engagement has five code enforcement officers, and a sixth officer will begin work Monday, according to Toby Lankford, a code enforcement officer with the city. Code enforcement officers are headquartered at the Community Engagement Building at 210 Spring St., across from the City Administration Building. To contact code enforcement, call

(479) 750-8135 or email Sam Goade, public works director, at sgoade@springdalear….

Source: City of Springdale

Sherman is one of around a dozen residents who attended the March 14 City Council meeting to criticize code enforcement during the public comment section.

Code enforcement officers work out of the city's Community Engagement Office, which is part of the Public Works Department. Sam Goade, Public Works director, spoke after residents addressed the council during the March 14 meeting.

"It's impossible to operate a code enforcement operations program without the confidence of the public. What I've heard tonight is we need to make some changes," Goade said.

Mayor Doug Sprouse, who wasn't at the meeting, spoke about the issue during the March 20 City Council Committee meeting. Sprouse said the changes Goade referred to include code enforcement officers prioritizing violations visible from a public street, as well as receiving additional training on how to better interact with the public.

"Those are the big ones," Sprouse said. "We're going to continue to evaluate what changes are necessary. It's an ongoing process. We're going to continue to enforce our codes, but we're trying to implement a more common-sense approach and not expend valuable resources on violations that are not a priority."

However, the city will not scale down its code enforcement efforts.

"Any objective person will say community engagement/code enforcement has done an excellent job cleaning up Springdale," Sprouse said. "I think these things do have pendulum swings, and we have to swing it back and find that sweet spot."

Alderman Kathy Jaycox, who presided over the council meeting as president pro tem, said code enforcement officers work hard and asked for compassion from complaining residents.

Sherman said she had to remove large tree limbs that fell in her back and front yards during a storm. The large limbs were cleared, but she gathered some leftover sticks into a small pile about 2 to 3 feet in diameter and 6 inches high. Also, there was a little roll of fencing in the backyard. She said she planned to remove them at a later date.

A code enforcement officer opened the latched gate to her backyard and went inside, she said. The code enforcement officer taped a notice on her door stating the pile of sticks was a violation and needed to be removed. A certified letter was also sent with photos of the pile of sticks and a roll of fencing that were considered violations, she said. She described the officer coming into her backyard as an illegal search.

"If the police can't do that without a warrant, why can the city?" she asked.

City Attorney Ernest Cate said as a general rule, code enforcement isn't going to go into someone's backyard unless there's some legal reason for them to do so, such as they have an administrative search warrant. This is adherence to general Fourth Amendment principles, he said.

"I'm not saying she's lying or mistaken, without the specifics of the case I would not be able to comment on the case," Cate said.

Cate said if Sherman's backyard had a chain link fence or no fence at all, the code enforcement officer could have taken a photo of the violations from the front yard.

Sherman said she has a wooden fence with a chain link gate. However, the photos couldn't have been taken from anywhere except the backyard, she said.

"I know they had to go through the privacy gate and into the backyard to take the picture that they took," she said. "To get the angle that they got in the picture, they had to be standing right in the middle of my backyard."

Ruth Jones, a local property owner, also said a code enforcement officer unjustly cited a resident who rents a house she owns on Bluestem Street.

Jones said in early December the renter had an old air conditioner and other "junk" in the driveway, and a code enforcement officer sent her a letter saying the items needed to be cleared and the property would be inspected Dec. 14. Jones said the items were a violation of city code. She said when she went by the property to tell her renter to remove them, he was in the process of doing so. She said she checked again Dec. 13 and found the yard was clean. When she didn't hear anything from the Dec. 14 inspection, she assumed everything was fine.

"So then on Jan. 9, I get a letter saying since you failed to do anything, we have now gone by and abated the property and you now owe us $261 for the cleanup," Jones said. "They showed me a picture, and what they had cleaned up was a wheel with a fully inflated tire on it."

The wheel was in the side yard, against a wall, behind a trash can, and that it had been temporarily placed there, Jones said.

"He thought somebody stole it. He said, 'I just bought it two months ago for $45,'" Jones said of the renter.

Jones said Missha Wagoner, community engagement supervisor, told her the wheel and tire were disposed of by the city.

"She said because once they abate a place, they have a year that they can drive by there and take anything that's out of code," Jones said. "I said, 'You've legislated a way to steal property from people.'"

Wagoner referred on Wednesday all questions pertaining to code enforcement complaints to Melissa Reeves, the city's public relations director.

Reeves said Jones owns Zabana Night Club, 2323 S. Old Missouri Road, and has a May 4 court date for a noise ordinance violation at the club and for the unsightly and unsanitary conditions at her rental property, another ordinance violation.

"Since this is a case that is currently pending, there is not much we can say because the case has not yet been decided," Reeves said.

State law 14-54-902 is paraphrased at the bottom of every code enforcement violation letter. The notice states: "Once this letter is issued, the city can enter the property within the next 12 months to abate future violations without sending a new notice."

"The reason why is there are some people who wouldn't do anything about cleaning their property until they got a new notice," Cate said.

Even though the notice basically says the city doesn't have to send a new notice within the next 12 months after the initial violation, sometimes code enforcement sends a new notice anyway, Cate said.

Jones disagrees with the law.

"Once there's an abatement on a property, the city can come by anytime for up to a year and take or clean up whatever they feel is in violation, and that's wrong," she said.

When code enforcement sees a violation, it gives notice to the owner or occupant telling them what the violation is, Cate said. They are told they have a certain amount of time to comply, and if they don't, the city has a right to enter the property and bring it into compliance and charge the cost against the owner or occupant. The cost is recovered through prosecution of the code violation in court or a lien on the property. If they are cited into court there is the possibility of an additional fine up to $1,000.

"To be cited into court for an ordinance violation is like getting a ticket into court for a traffic violation," Cate said. "The person obviously has a right to contest the citation in court, and just like any other matter they are innocent until proven guilty."

Jones said she will fight the $261 abatement fee in court, adding most people have no recourse against the city because hiring an attorney would cost several hundred dollars.

Alderman Jeff Watson referenced Jones' complaint during the March 20 council committee meeting.

"I felt sorry for the lady whose tenant lost her wheel and tire. I feel like we had to do something about it," Watson said.

The most common violations include unsightly and unsanitary conditions, overgrown grass and parking a vehicle on grass, Cate said.

What Other Cities Do

David Carver, Fayetteville's compliance administrator, said his code enforcement officers focus on compliance, not enforcement, and hasn't issued any citations in the three years he has been with the department.

"Our approach is to not be enforcers or write tickets, but to gain compliance through outreach and education and work with residents through whatever situations they're going through," Carver said.

Fayetteville notifies residents about violations by leaving a notice in the form of a red door hanger on the front door and sending an official notice by mail to the property owner, he said.

Similar to Springdale, if a resident fails to correct the violation, Fayetteville sends out a contractor to correct the issue, which could include removing unsightly or unsanitary items from a front yard to mowing tall grass, and then charge the homeowner, according to Carver.

"We're basically charging for the contractor's hourly fee, disposal and some administrative costs," he said.

Fayetteville has a 93 percent compliance rate, Carver said.

Bentonville code enforcement is proactive, said Darren Warren, a code enforcement officer for the city.

"We drive around the town looking for violations instead of waiting for someone to call in about one," Warren said. "We look for violations visible from the street."

Bentonville had to mow only 78 properties in 2016 and cited only one property.

"We work hard to resolve issues prior to writing any citations," he said.

Lt. Scott Clifton of the Rogers Police Department said his department isn't out to issue citations, and most people comply before a citation is issued.

"We can only take enforcement action on something that is visible from public venue," Clifton said. "We cannot go on a property and look for issues or go on a neighbor's property and look through a fence."

Keith Foster, public information officer for Rogers police, said the public venue rule Clifton referred to adheres to Fourth Amendment rights.

Willing to help

Jones appreciates Springdale's willingness to listen to resident complaints and said she's willing to help.

"I'm willing to volunteer to help resolve the problem if they want to set up a community committee. I'm willing to be part of the solution to the problem," she said.

Springdale is heading in the right direction when it comes to code enforcement, Sherman said.

"I do appreciate that they took my complaint to heart and moved quickly to do away with backyard searches," she said. "They acknowledged that, and I appreciate that.

NW News on 03/26/2017

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