By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
As there seems to be an increasing amount of questions and complaints centered on the City of Great Bend's enforcement of the abatement process, the Great Bend City Council conducted a work session Monday night to discuss revising their plan.
Code enforcement handles violations to city ordinances regarding overgrown vegetation, trash and refuse, inoperable vehicles and graffiti.
With select properties written up in violation with minor offenses,
Mayor Cody Schmidt wanted to clear up the process for which the city and Code
Enforcement Supervisor Art Keffer issue abatements.
"I just don't feel like it's fair for Art and his team to taking a beating every other Monday from somebody accusing them of not doing right when we're the ones asking them to do their job," said Schmidt.
To speed up the abatement process, the city council voted in the summer of 2020
to eliminate a warning letter sent to property owners to clean up their
violations. Once the property was deemed to be in violation, a certified letter
was immediately sent to inform them they have 10 calendar days to clean the
yard or the city will abate the property.
Mailing out approximately 60 certified
letters a week, costing more than $7 per letter, the process was budgeted for
more than $20,000 a year.
"I have received text messages from people that received a letter in the mail for ticky-tacky violations," said Schmidt. "They were upset that the city would waste taxpayers' money on something so silly."
Keffer noted the compliance rate is roughly 80% to 85% once the property owner
is notified of the violation. The city council chose to go back to their old
system of sending a mailer, first-class mail, to the owner. The owner will then
have 10 days before the certified letter is sent informing them the abatement
will take place. With a high compliance rate, the city is hopeful this will cut
down the expense of certified mail needed.
"A violation is a violation, but what can we do to help save money?" said Schmidt. "I think we have to continue with abatements, but not put code enforcement in a bad situation to pick and choose who they pick on because that can get us in trouble in a hurry."
The city council also discussed the possibility of using on-duty police
officers to deliver the written notices.