JACKSON – Township Code Enforcement Office Supervisor Andrew Cheney addressed the Township Council during a recent meeting concerning how the office is operating.
The visit came following a prior council meeting where several residents expressed frustration and some criticism toward enforcement of zoning codes in the community.
Cheney said “during past meetings there has been some questions about what zoning enforcement has been doing in town and I want to give you some rough numbers as of this date. We’ve written over 560 notices of violations in the township for various reasons. We’ve done 974 land registrations, 280 rental inspections just on single family homes and we are at 370 rental inspections of multi-family homes, apartments, duplexes, and stuff like that.
“To date we’ve brought in $101,000 in fines into the township and we still have two months to go. We’ve been extremely busy. If you speak to the court, they will advise you that we’ve been so busy that they actually put a date for code enforcement on the calendar. They can’t put us on their regular calendar as we take up too much space,” Cheney said.
Cheney said that his office was keeping the town “hopping” and was also addressing AirBnBs in town. “Several are still appearing on sites and some questions come up on some of the sites. I’ve done some research and they are actually in compliance and it states on their application that there is a minimum 30 day stay. The homeowner we spoke to is very compliant and she’s seen a copy of our ordinance and had it changed on their website right away so she wasn’t in violation.”
He said the AirBnB ordinance limiting rentals to 30 days involves not only the rental but the advertising of the rental. That ordinance came swiftly after a major problem occurred in the township during the summer when around 700 people came out to a party in violation of COVID-19 health requirements. The incident also disrupted the neighborhood and required police support from other neighboring law enforcement agencies.
Council President Alex Sauickie asked Cheney a few questions about the department. “How many code enforcement officers are there?”
“There are six full time including myself and one-part timer. Actually, we have two-part timers but one is working strictly with the resale CCOs of the house in the billing department just because they can’t keep up with the resales and he is being dedicated to that and unfortunately, he will end up resigning in the next couple of months because of family issues,” Cheney said.
“We are hoping to replace that person with a full-timer because if we get a heavy caseload we have to help them out still. It gets busy,” Cheney added.
Sauickie also asked if the typical hours were Monday through Friday.
“I have people willing to work Saturday and Sunday. We’ve been pretty successful in doing that. The guys know there is no overtime or comp so they look forward to having a day off during the week and it doesn’t cost the town any extra money to do that. They like it because they can do something during the week with their family if they have to,” Cheney added.
Cheney said, “we’ve been successful in catching a lot of contractors and tree services working without permits.”
“From the complaints we have heard from residents it seems to be the off hours and weekends,” Sauickie said.
“There are guys who live in town and if I get a call, I can ask them to go out at night and check this out; there might be a problem,” Cheney added.
“Are they regularly staffed on the weekends?” the council president inquired.
“Pretty much every weekend and they get a day off during the week. There might be a gap where no one is here over the weekend but in my being a cop for 30 years you want to be regularly irregular. You don’t want them to pick up your patterns. So, it might be someone on a Saturday. It might be someone on a Sunday or it might be two people on a Saturday.”
Cheney said he’s actually had violators state on record “what are you doing working on a Saturday?” to his enforcement officers. “The judges chuckle at them when they say that.”
Sauickie asked if there as anything that would prevent regularly staffing for weekends which is a crucial time to catch violations of code enforcement.
“Most of the guys that work here are retired cops who dig into stuff – investigate stuff – and a cop has a way of looking into things that a normal person wouldn’t necessarily think of. They think out of the box in a lot of ways,” Cheney said. “They also aren’t afraid to go to court about those violations.”
Business Administrator Terence Wall said that if the department was going in the direction of needing to hire a full-time staffer, “hiring two part-timers who could only work weekends may actually increase that staffing if it is effective.”
“The problem with that is with the resale end of it is that they only do that from Monday through Friday, attorneys don’t do closings on weekends.
“We are simply looking for compliance. The township of Jackson is not seeking revenue. We are seeking compliance with the rules and regulations set forth for everyone fairly and equitably across the board and when we enhanced the staffing it was to have overlap staffing for Saturdays and Sundays,” Wall added.
Wall said, “unfortunately, some folks, not all, most don’t, some think it is okay to do work without permits on the weekend. It is not. It is illegal and enforcement is in order. With council’s support we refreshed the fleet with a modest cost. At any time, you may see a code enforcement vehicle nearby and that is the goal.”
