Solano County Grand Jury
• 2023-2024
• Agency Response
Response to:
City of Benicia
Lorie Tinfow City Manager City of the Enic July 18, 2018 Honorable John B. Ellis Solano County Hall of Justice*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 4 findings
F1
Page 1
City Code Enforcement Departments generally seek voluntary code compliance.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
Page 1
Cities continue instituting fines as a last resort to achieve compliance.
F2
Page 1
- The majority of municipal code enforcement is reactive rather than proactive and relies on citizens to report suspected code violations.
Related Recommendations (2)
R2a
Page 1
- Municipal Code Enforcement officers become more proactive in identifying and educating the public on code violations (i.e. Coffee with Code Enforcement). LORIE TINFOW, City Manager ELIZABETH PATTERSON, Mayor KENNETH C. PAULK, City Treasurer Members of the City Council STEVE YOUNG, Vice Mayor . TOM CAMPBELL . MARK C. HUGHES . ALAN M. SCHWARTZMAN LISA WOLFE, City Clerk Recycled Paper Grand Jury Response City's Response to Finding 2 and Recommendation 2a The City of Benicia agrees with Finding 2 and would like to implement Recommendation 2a. While the City understands the importance of Code Enforcement officers becoming more proactive in identifying and educating the public on code violations, its current level of implementation is restricted due to limited resources. Our current staffing allocation for code enforcement is one full time position. Historically this staff position spends a great deal of time responding reactively to citizens reports of suspected code violations. Any remaining time will continue to be focused on proactive actions. Additionally, through the implementation of priority based budgeting during the next budget cycle, the City will monitor and evaluate the resource allocations devoted to code enforcement.
R2b
Page 2
- Work with refuse companies to inform the public of additional programs. City's Response to Finding 2 and Recommendation 2b The City of Benicia currently works with our local refuse company, Republic Services, to provide our citizens with numerous programs designed to enable the proper and efficient disposal of various waste. Examples include our annual yard waste disposal weekend, our free sharps disposal program available for 24/7 drop off, and our free prescription drug disposal program available for 24/7 drop off. We will continue to work with Republic Services to inform the public of these programs.
F3
Page 2
- City of Benicia does not have a fine schedule for Municipal Code violations.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Page 1
Finding 2 - The majority of municipal code enforcement is reactive rather than proactive and relies on citizens to report suspected code violations.
F4
Page 2
- City of Vallejo has a pamphlet, "Neighborhood Resource Brochure" detailing resources for citizens to refer to concerning code enforcement issues.
Related Recommendations (1)
R4
Page 2
- City Code Enforcement officials of all cities consider developing a comprehensive brochure using Vallejo's "Neighborhood Resource Brochure" as a prototype to better inform citizens of available resources. Grand Jury Response City's Response to Finding 4 and Recommendation 4 The City of Benicia agrees with Finding 4 and recognizes the importance of
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.