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Washington Neighborhood Initiatives Status ReportTHE CITY OF DUBUQUE Masterpiece on the Mississippi Dubuque All-American City 2007 TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Status report on Washington Neighborhood Initiatives DATE: October 1, 2008 Housing and Community Development Department Director David Harris has provided a progress report on the Washington Neighborhood Initiatives. Michael C. Van Milligen MCVM/jh Attachment cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager David Harris, Housing and Community Development Department Director THE CITY OF DUBUQUE Masterpiece on the Mississippi Dubuque All-American City 2007 TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager FROM: David ris, Housing and Community Development Department SUBJECT: Status report on Washington Neighborhood Initiatives DATE: 22 September 08 The purpose of this memorandum is to summarize progress on initiatives approved by the City Council within the past year related to Washington Neighborhood revitalization activities. Washington Neighborhood Housing Inspector The new full-time inspector began duties in the Washington area in the second week of June. As of the first of September, Joe Kirk has completed 98 comprehensive inspections of rental dwellings. These are "cycle" inspections, done as part of the current seven-year process of inspection of approximately 6600 rental properties, city- wide. (Another 1000 rentals, on the Section 8 Program, are inspected annually, according to federal regulations.) With the addition of this additional inspector, our goal is to reduce that inspection cycle time to five years or less. The inspection of these 98 properties resulted in enforcement orders sent to 61 owners. To-date, 37 properties have been reinspected and determined to be code-compliant. The most common violation noticed is for exterior deteriorated paint; interior house- keeping issues are the next most-noticed problem. The inspector additionally drives all the alleys in the Washington Neighborhood, at least twice weekly. This has resulted in written contacts with 40 other landlords and/or home owners, with orders to correct observed exterior violations. These typically include unkempt grass/weeds and trash or garbage in the yard. We have instituted aloes-tolerance policy for these violations. Owners receive a written notice, once, to correct the problem. If this is not accomplished -generally within 72 hours -the Housing Department hires a private contractor to do the clean-up. These costs are then assessed against the property, subject to City Council approval. An administrative fee is added to the contractor's charges. The written notice also informs the property owner that, for subsequent violations of the same type, additional written notices will not be sent and, instead, the private contractor will be hired again to perform the clean-up and costs assessed. Since this program was instituted in June, we have assessed $3200 in costs for contracted labor. The Washington inspector has investigated 28 complaints received from residents of the area. These generally relate to exterior conditions involving uncut grass and/or trash and garbage. He reports receiving an average of 20 calls per week from residents with some issue to discuss. This indicates that the inspector has established a good working network with neighborhood residents. The business card he hands out identifies him as the "Washington Neighborhood Revitalizer." He also reports cooperation from commercial property owners in addressing exterior maintenance issues. He has obtained compliance in cleaning up vacant lots, parking lots and one vacant storage warehouse. Although these are not within the jurisdiction of the Housing Code, his personal contacts have resulted in voluntary cooperation. Commercial Building Inspections The Fire Department has made a commitment to complete all Fire Code inspections of commercial buildings in the Washington Neighborhood area as a priority. As of the first of September, 23 of the 51 commercial blocks had been completed for building inspections. "No-show" ordinance The Council approved a Housing Code ordinance revision, effective July 1, to levy a $50 fine on landlords who fail to be present at a scheduled housing inspection. This was done to increase efficiency in the enforcement program, as many scheduled inspections are cancelled and the inspector's time wasted. Since July 1, we have levied this fine against 12 Section 8 Program landlords and eight other rental unit owners. Staff reports that no inspector has failed to be present at a scheduled inspection. Crime Property ordinance amendment Assistant City Attorney Crenna Brumwell has completed a final draft of an ordinance revision, after having worked with an interdepartmental team for the past several months. This revision will include a number of additional tenant behavior violations to be included under the jurisdiction of the current Crime Property ordinance. With these changes, the Police Department will have significant additional leverage to compel rental property owners to manage the behavior of their tenants. The Council is expected to have this ordinance for review in November. Staff training Attorney Brumwell has conducted a series of training sessions with staff from several departments in issuance of municipal infractions. For the Fire Department -which conducts Housing Code inspections - 74 of 89 personnel have received this training. Another 49 staff from other departments have also been trained in proper issuance of citations for violations of ordinance requirements. Tenant screening service We have received proposals from national firms to provide a `tenant screening service,' to be made available to landlords at no charge. An interdepartmental team has recommended two firms to perform these checks on tenants, which include rental history, credit rating and criminal background. We have presented this information to the Dubuque Landlords Association for review. This proposal will be presented to the City Council in the near future. Permits Plus system The Housing Department is nearing completion of start-up planning for an automated code inspection system, expanding the capability of the existing Permits Plus software system now in operation at several city departments. We expect to operationalize this within the next 60 days. With this system, housing inspectors will auto-code their inspection check lists in the field, then download the report for printing once they have returned to the office. This will bypass the time-consuming process we currently use, including handwritten inspection reports, typing of the reports by clerical staff and consequent lengthy delays in getting these reports to landlords. This will enable inspectors to complete more inspections, give landlords additional time to make required repairs and reduce the 7-year inspection cycle. Washington Neighborhood Strategic Plan This comprehensive planning effort, funded with an appropriation approved by the Council in December, got under way in August. We have retained Teska Associates, from Evanston, Illinois, to develop this plan, based on the earlier visioning effort. This process is expected to take place over the next six months. The product will be a public participation-based document with a comprehensive set of recommendations for addressing a wide range of environmental and social issues in the Washington Neighborhood. Section 8 Program Investigator Cpl Pablo Ramirez began work as a full-time investigator for the Section 8 Program the first of April. Since that time, he has initiated 178 investigations. Just over 50% have been for unauthorized household members; 20% have been for unreported criminal history. These have resulted in 49 termination appeal hearings to-date; 42 families subsequently lost their housing benefits. About 90% of all proposed terminations are appealed. Currently, Cpl Ramirez has submitted recommendations for termination of benefits for an additional 37 households. His investigations are providing a quick and comprehensive response to all complaints of Program violations. The Housing Commission recently revised the administrative policies to streamline this process. Previously, families had multiple appeal options, including to the Housing Commission, resulting in months delays before final decisions on terminations. This process has now been reduced to a single appeal, easing the administrative burden and moving families found to have violated regulations more quickly off the Program. Alley Lighting The Engineering Department reports that four applications have been received from owners abutting street-alley intersections, for installation of additional lighting. These requests have been forwarded to Alliant for installation of lights between Jackson and Washington Streets, at 16tH 18tH 19tH and 20tH Streets. Garbage Cart Demonstration Program As of last week, 482 of the 48-gallon garbage carts were distributed to Washington Neighborhood residences by the Operations and Maintenance Department. This project has been designed to encourage better control of yard and alley trash and litter, providing larger receptacles for the same price as for smaller (30-gallon) containers. Students from the HEART Program assisted in assembly of the carts prior to delivery. Multicultural Family Center The Engineering Department published a request for proposals for architectural and construction management services, for conversion of the former Kephart Music Store into a new location for the Multicultural Center. The Council is expected to receive a recommendation for a firm in October. The Kephart building will provide over 6000 square feet for expanded Center activities, with a timeline for opening in mid-2009. Staff from ISU-County Extension and the Community Foundation (through the Economic Development Department's Project Hope Program) are now working to re- constitute an advisory board of community members to oversee the operations of the completed Center.