Welcome to the new blog portion of my website. I'm going to be discussing issues that arise in code enforcement and invite comments and ideas from you. In today's difficult economic environment, we're all struggling with how to perform our jobs with decreasing resources. We're being confronted with new challenges daily due to the foreclosure crisis (ever try to find a live person to speak with about pipes bursting in subzero weather in a foreclosed house with mold growing so bad the residence can't be salvaged?) In my practice as a municipal prosecutor, I deal with these questions daily. I'm also interested in how effective code enforcement can reduce crime in a community and I will be writing about that issue. While I can't give legal advice on this blog, I will be pointing out interesting cases that may be useful to you.If you want to find out what houses are owned by Fannie Mae in your jurisdiction, go to http://reosearch.fanniemae.com/reosearch/
Once again credit goes to Kelly Anbach, code enforcement officer extraordinaire, from Hinsdale, IL who discovered this website and passed the information on to me.
Category(ies): Code Enforcement, Foreclosure
I had the privilege of doing a seminar for MACE, the Missouri group for code inspectors, last month in Springfield, Missouri. The members were energetic and a joy to instruct. I especially enjoyed speaking with Gary Schlottach, a police officer/code enforcement officer with the Florissant Police Department. He truly understands that strict code enforcement is law enforcement’s best friend. He gave example after example of how the code department and police department successfully can work together to improve the quality of life in a community. One of his ideas was checking with the local recorder of deeds to find out many other properties in other jurisdictions a troublesome landowner has and then contacting the authorities in those jurisdictions to find out if they’re experiencing problems too. Sometimes it results in getting more up to date contact information or a joint effort to pressure the lawbreaker to become compliant. Code enforcement inspectors with police training are very good at obtaining information from a variety of sources and are comfortable with obtaining administrative search warrants. They also understand right of entry restrictions. Gary knew all of the tricks. He was very generous with his time and advice and expressed an interest in sharing his knowledge with other departments.
Category(ies): Code Enforcement
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