During the past seven months, city Code Enforcement Officer Tim
Burns has taken a lot of junk from other people.
During the past seven months, city Code Enforcement Officer Tim Burns has taken a lot of junk from other people.
Burns deals with the likes of trash in backyards and other illegal building activities, along with a tremendously wide spectrum of odd jobs that come in on a complaint basis.
“I take complaints from a variety of sources,” Burns said, “from different departments within the city and also occasionally from other agencies – environmental health, San Benito County Enforcement…”
Hollister officials hired Burns in late March under the Community Development Department to keep track of zoning and building violations within the city.
And at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, CD Director Bill Card and Burns will update officials on the program. Overall, Card said his presentation will be positive.
Officials attempted to hire a full-time officer more than two years ago, but budget shortfalls kept them from doing so. Burns is the first full-time code enforcement officer Hollister has ever employed. Card said most other cities employ such a position.
“When I worked for Monterey County, they had six officers there,” Card said.
Now, Card said, Burns maintains a workload of complaints on a daily basis.
“Most of the calls that come into the (Planning Department) office are for him,” Card said. “If something doesn’t look right, he tries to resolve it.”
Since starting, Burns handled more than 400 different issues, and at any one time deals with 75 to 100 problems, he said. Burns’ primary objective is to educate citizens on what is acceptable.
Oftentimes property owners let the land’s image diminish significantly. Burns remembers one job in particular.
“This one evolved into a junkyard,” he said.
Burns started working with that particular property owner five months ago. And now, they are close to getting the building back to city code, Burns said.
“We had to junk and tow up to 20 cars off that property alone,” Burns said.
Card remembers that house, too.
“There were huge piles of trash and lots of junk on site,” Card said. “People would leave vehicles there, and they used this trailer as an office.”
That’s just one example among a variance of issues Card and Burns will address at the meeting. Overall, Burns has reviewed 52 building issues, 58 vehicle matters, 62 neighborhood stations, 13 business license issues, three zoning situations and 15 miscellaneous matters.
Burns, though, said his job is not about “beautification.”
“It’s more of a safety compliance related matter,” Burns said. “We want this to be a well-maintained community, a presentable community.”
In other business scheduled for Tuesday’s meeting:
– Council will consider authorizing a contract for the domestic wastewater seasonal storage pond. This construction is required under the state’s Regional Water Quality Control Board’s cease-and-desist order against the city and part of the long-term wastewater management plan.
– Public Works Director Clint Quilter will present the remainder of the Five-year Capitol Improvement Program, which was previously discussed three weeks ago at a Council meeting. The program details public works plans and costs of projects for the future.
