Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home’s code enforcement officer handled 264 cases in the five-month span between June 4 and Nov. 2.
Tommy Mull, a staffer for the city’s Community and Economic Development Department, took over the program from the Sweet Home Police Department this year.
“The Police Department gave us a great foundation to move it to the next level,” Mull said. His mission,he said, is not to issue citations but to achieve compliance.
“We’re not punitive,” he said. “We can be. We don’t want to be.”
And that means he’s emphasizing education.
The Police Department’s program was reactive – the way it was for years as part of the old Planning Department.
That was by necessity because the Police Department had a lot going on, Mull said. “The thing I wanted to do was be more proactive.”
While he responds directly to complaints, he is out looking for compliance with city codes.
Mull divided the city into five zones, and he visits each one of them one day each week, he said. When he started, each zone had about 15 houses with issues.
In addition to checking for compliance throughout the city, Mull said, he also meets citizens as he goes through, and building relationships with them is an important part of his work.
It give citizens an avenue to deal with code compliance problems in their neighborhoods, Mull said. He also has received a couple of complaints through the city’s new Mobile311 Citizen Portal.
After initial response to a complaint, Mull said, followup is important. For most of the 264 cases he is handling, he visits them each two three times.
Mull estimated that “150 of those cases are probably me finding them,” but he does receive a lot of calls too. “I find more stuff than people tell me about. I can’t be everywhere, so what I do is prioritize what I’m looking for.”
He’s often not looking at the weeds in one place when another has 18 garbage bags piled up, he said.
Mull said the response to code enforcement has been positive.
“I haven’t come across anybody I’ve had an issue with,” he said. “Ninety percent of people I deal with are like, ‘Sure, no problem.’
“A lot of people have no idea they’re even breaking a code (so education is constant).”
Mull said he is putting out educational information through the city’s social media and working on guides for new residents.
Among his cases, he has issued a couple of notices that are probably going to end with citations, Mull said. On the other end of the spectrum, “I’ve had a few where people called me, and they’re not code violations.”
At this point, 218 complaints have been resolved. Twenty had no violation. He is investigating 22 cases, and four are under notice for citations.
The vast majority are for noxious vegetation, with 123 complaints, Mull said. That probably has a lot to do with the season when he started working.
He has handled 24 complaints about vehicles, Mull said. The Police Department has been supportive dealing with the vehicles.
He has had six burning and dumping complaints, 20 public nuisance complaints and 31 animal complaints.
Among the animals, it’s about dogs and cats, Mull said. “Chickens? My favorite are roosters, (which are not allowed under city ordinance).”
Animal complaints also involve rats and pigeons, he said.
The biggest issues are with RVs, open storage and public nuisances, which include trash, debris and appliances, Mull said. That’s where he concentrates his attention most.
Some of those are related to the way people live, he said, and “most of us” don’t live that way.
“The RV situation in this city is interesting, to say the least,” Mull said. “You cut one head off, two more pop up.”
A lot of people living in them have no idea that they can’t, he said.
“I’m seeing some interesting stuff.”
For more information, call (541) 367-8113 or stop by the Community and Economic Development Department in City Hall, 1140 12th Ave. Complaints may be made through the city’s new Mobile311 Citizen Portal at sweethomeor.mobile311.com.