Police and code enforcement issues were a majority of the discussions and actions taken during City Council’s Aug. 12 meeting.
The council approved an ordinance amending a current ordinance allowing police to exclude people from city properties when laws are violated on said property. The amendment specifically addresses the library.
The current ordinance from 2017 applies to all owned and leased city property except for public right-of-way, parks and the library. That’s because there’s another ordinance already in place for parks, and it was believed the library’s policies included a process for exclusion.
“The problem is, our police officers can enforce ordinances, but they’re not really empowered to enforce a library police manual,” City Attorney Blair Larsen said. “It made it so the library staff had to enforce that, and the police weren’t really equipped with the right tools for this.”
The amended ordinance gives police the ability to enforce exclusion from library property when ordinances are violated.
Code Enforcement Officer Ray Grundy presented a report on the Sweet Home Initiative for Neighborhood Enhancement & Standards (SHINES). Noticing that “open storage” is the most common code violation, he provided dumpsters for a community event.
He reported 184 addresses took advantage of the dump, 12 of which were currently undergoing code enforcement action. The result of the event was a 92% reduction in active open storage cases since March.
Also, Police Chief Jason Ogden swore-in Tye Moore as the newest officer to join the Sweet Home Police Department, and the council approved a contract with iWorQ Systems to provide asset management services for Public Works and Code Enforcement.
In other business:
- The council approved a resolution allowing city officials and staff to receive minor fringe benefits such as snacks, conference SWAG, recognition gifts or flowers, points for credit card use, etc. as part of their compensation package. The Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) recently concluded it’s unethical to receive such items unless they are included in their official compensation package.
- The council approved the closure of 13th Avenue between Long and Main streets for a National Night Out event on Aug. 19.