Vallejo is set to bolster its code enforcement services.
The Vallejo City Council unanimously voted Tuesday on a resolution authorizing Pleasanton-based firm 4LEAF to provide organizational guidance to the city's Planning and Development Services Department, which has overseen code enforcement since January.
Code enforcement staff are responsible for responding to graffiti, trash and supervising vacant properties and abandoned vehicles on private property. The division was previously managed under the Vallejo Police Department and joined the planning department in an effort to bolster candidate interest in the division's open positions.
"The biggest mistake we ever did was put (code enforcement) under the police department. That's when I noticed that things started to go downhill," said Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz, noting VPD's lack of supervision to the division.
Planning and Development Services Director Christina Ratcliffe said the adjustment calls for different processes in how the police and code enforcement engage with one another.
She said information within the police department relevant to code enforcement responsibilities used to be disseminated easier because it only circulated internally, rather than across departments.
The passed resolution addresses three main tasks for the consultee: present an assessment of the code enforcement division as is, including intra-department communications and staffing; develop standard operating procedures for the division; and identify an interim division manager to fill the position's current vacancy.
Ratcliffe said during Tuesday's city council meeting that problems surrounding code enforcement management have been met with years-long efforts to address them, exacerbated by staffing shortages. The division is losing a staffer this Thursday, leaving it with three remaining employees.
The consulting firm is not handling code violations on commercial land due to the existing shortage, but it's a responsibility members of the council said they'd like the firm to help code enforcement staff with as the vacancies get filled.
"The old Walmart facility has so much graffiti on there," Councilmember JR Matulac said, "and being the bridgeway to Napa, it's a little bit embarrassing to see that is what most people see when they leave Vallejo, thinking that is their memory of Vallejo."
The savings incurred from the vacancies, however, allow the Planning and Development Services Department to seek out 4LEAF with no impact on the city's general fund. The cost of consulting the outside firm is roughly $206,000, with an expiration date set in late July of 2023.
Openings for the interim manager and other staff positions open on Monday, with the firm and city looking at a start date in June.
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