CLEARLAKE – The reorganization of the Clearlake Community Development Department and Police Department will be on this evening's City Council agenda, with the council considering a suggestion from staff to hand code enforcement duties over to the police.

Interim City Administrator Dale Neiman's staff report for the council meeting explains that he and Larry Todd, the city's interim police chief, along with interim Community Development Director Irwin Kaplan have been evaluating the Code Enforcement Program over the last three weeks, looking for ways to improve service.

Code Enforcement, Neiman explains in the report, has been under both the police and Community Development in the past.

Neiman's report said he, Todd and Kaplan concluded the Code Enforcement Program should be placed back under the police department.

For one reason, Neiman explains code enforcement activities are more similar to police duties.

In addition, Neiman stated that because the police department has personnel on the streets at all times, code enforcement issues can be referred more efficiently to the appropriate staff if they are managed by the police department.

“It was also very apparent to me when I met with the code enforcement and police department staff that the police department staff was very familiar with the laws governing code enforcement activities,” Neiman's report states.

By having Clearlake Police oversee Code Enforcement Program, Neiman said more direct supervision will be possible. Code Enforcement staff will be assigned to the Operations Division commander and supervised by the day watch sergeant, Neiman reported. Five-day coverage will be possible because of the constant presence of a day watch sergeant, Neiman said, who may also be able to provide coverage for code enforcement issues on weekends “in some cases.”

Neiman also said the city uses people assigned community service by the court system to help clean up trash an litter in public places. He said these tasks can be better coordinated, especially on weekends, by the police department, which is familiar with the program and always has staff on duty.

Neiman's recommendation to staff is to transfer the Code Enforcement Division to Clearlake Police at this evening's meeting.

Clearlake Mayor Judy Thein said she supports the plan.

“I am very pleased that code enforcement is going back to the police department,” she said. “Better service will be provided to the community. I echo the sentiments of Dale Neiman's staff report.

 

The meeting takes place at 6 p.m. at Clearlake City Hall, 14050 Olympic Drive.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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