One year after hiring its first full-time code enforcement
officer, the City of Hollister has continually increased efforts to
curb a problem with substandard housing.
One year after hiring its first full-time code enforcement officer, the City of Hollister has continually increased efforts to curb a problem with substandard housing.
In its most recent show of support for the crackdown, the city has decided to pursue a grant worth $211,000, which would be spread over three years.
The funding is part of a state program recognizing a need for cities such as Hollister to remedy housing code violations – properties often littered with health hazards and crowded by multiple families. The state Department of Housing and Community Development has made available $4.75 million, with allocations ranging from $30,000 to $300,000. The grants will be awarded on a competitive basis.
That funding would vastly help the city’s attempt to rectify, according to building officials, “a serious problem” in Hollister.
Since he arrived in March 2002, Code Enforcement Officer Tim Burns has made significant progress, according to Community Development Director Bill Card, and officials would like to continue that trend.
“Tim Burns is doing an excellent job,” said Card, Burns’ boss. “He likes what he’s doing and he’s good with people.”
If obtained, the code enforcement grant could finance purchase of capital expenditures, Card said, including vehicles, computers, printers, cameras, telephones, furniture and fire and safety equipment.
“He (Burns) needs equipment,” Card said. “We’re kind of bare-bones at this point.”
Card expressed confidence that Hollister will obtain a grant, even though he said every state municipality with a code enforcement division will likely apply. The city must apply by Friday, April 4 and should know whether it will obtain a grant by the end of April, Card said. The City Council-hired grant firm, Randall Funding and Development, will write the application.
As of now, Burns is Hollister’s only code enforcement officer, and the grant cannot finance hiring of additional staff. When needed, several officials from the planning department assist Burns.
Regardless of whether the city gets the grant, building officials such as Burns and Card have said the division will continue on its path of increased aggressiveness in enforcing code violations.
“It’s gaining its priority (within the city),” Card said. “When you become more proactive, you begin to find more things.”
In January, the City Council passed a rigid ordinance that should help the CED’s cause. The ordinance penalizes owners of units deemed substandard by the city for an array of violations that include constructions without permits, no sewer hookups and illegal electrical installations.
The ordinance, which took effect in late February, forces owners to pay a “relocation assistance fee” to tenants forced out by the proprietor’s negligence. The amount would cover costs of moving and the difference in rent between the tenant’s old and new homes for up to three months.
“Ultimately, it’s both good for them (the tenants) and the community,” Councilman Tony Bruscia said. “It needs to be done.”
The ordinance was passed too late, however, for the tenants at 27 East St. Building officials condemned that property in January while forcing three migrant work-supported families of 18 people to find a new home within 72 hours.
After the initial inspection before the condemning, Proffitt said the conditions at the East Street house – and its converted garage – were the worst he’s seen in four years as a Hollister building official.
Every city in which interim City Manager Ed Kreins has previously worked – as a police chief in three jurisdictions and city manager in seven – has employed at least one code enforcement officer. Beverly Hills, he said, employed about five to seven officers.
“It’s something every city should probably have,” he said.
Aside from the obvious safety issues, Kreins said code enforcement enhances the overall look of the community.
“It is a prideful kind of thing in a community to maintain codes,” he said.
