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Code Enforcement Officer James Goff looks through a gate at several bags of trash next to a house in northeast Bend on Tuesday morning. Goff is now Bend’s only employee responsible for checking on code violations; with some forgoing things like garbage service to stretch their dollars, the tough times seem to have made his job a busy one.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
Only one code enforcer left — and the job’s harder, too
City code enforcement: After three rounds of budget cuts, Bend relies on one man to check on violations, from garbage piling up to cars in yards
By Erin Golden / The Bulletin
Published: March 01. 2009 4:00AM PSTWhen James Goff drives the streets of Bend, he looks out for things most people would pass by without a second glance.
He spots the tattered mattress with a “free” sign left on the side of the road. He takes note of the broken-down mobile home parked in a driveway, the fence that’s just high enough to obstruct the view of passing drivers and the Dumpster overflowing with bags of trash.
After three rounds of budget cuts in just over a year, Goff, 34, is the only remaining member of a city code enforcement team that once included three other people. With nearly 1,500 cases ending up on his desk each year, his workload is heavy — and with the economy in a tailspin, it’s taken on a new tone.
A few years ago, the city’s biggest code compliance headache involved people with old cars in their yards. These days, it’s trash — around the city, some people trying to get by with less are cutting their garbage pickup and piling it up around their homes. Though he sees plenty of people who violate city codes because they don’t feel like they have to play by the rules, Goff has also run into a growing number of residents who have lost their jobs, are facing foreclosure, and have simply let some aspects of their lives and their homes spiral out of control.
As a code enforcement officer, Goff is part law enforcement officer, part civil servant, and now, more than ever, part social worker. Though his main responsibility is making sure people comply with all the ins and outs of the city’s code, Goff also has made it his mission to first try to help people with their problems rather than just write citations.
“I had a mother of four, working two jobs, and I could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice, that this gal is trying, but she got behind on her trash and couldn’t get it taken care of,” he said of one recent case.
Goff worked with the woman on a plan to get the piles of trash outside of her home cleaned up and was able to resolve the problem without having to send her to court.
“We are not a punitive jurisdiction,” he said. “We like to educate — there are a lot of people out there who are unfamiliar with the code.”
Enforcing the code
Bend’s city code includes rules and regulations for a variety of issues, ranging from the use of fireworks to the licensing of city utilities. The city’s building division handles all of the building-related code infractions, and the police and fire departments handle many public safety issues.
Goff, however, is also responsible for handling many code violations that could be considered threats to public safety, like trash strewn outside a house or abandoned appliances and vehicles left in a yard or driveway. In addition, Goff checks into illegal home businesses being run without proper permits, though he usually has to focus on the more pressing safety issues.
Community Development Director Mel Oberst said that when the code enforcement program had more help, officers could spend more time looking for potential problems across the board, rather than just responding to specific issues.
“The commu-nity needs to understand in these tough budget times, the city can’t afford to provide the full level of service that we could a few years ago,” he said. “The community needs to be patient. … We only have one code enforcement officer, and he’s directed to health safety issues first and nuisances issues second. If there’s a home business, we will get to it when we can, but (that) won’t be at the top of the list.”
In most cases, when Goff notices or gets a call about a potential violation, he goes to check it out and then sends the home or building’s owner a letter, advising him or her to fix the problem. If the letter recipient doesn’t respond within a 10-day period, he typically will send a more strongly worded letter that details the steep fines involved — more than $600 per day for some violations — if the problem isn’t resolved immediately.
Goff often talks with the code violators over the phone or meets with them in person. Sometimes, the conversations aren’t easy; he said some people get angry when he shows up to tell them they need to change the way they’re living.
“I get the most resistance on discarded vehicles,” Goff said. “People say ‘it’s on my property, I can do what I want. Why can’t I have 15 cars that don’t work in my backyard?’”
Negotiation skills
But Goff, a veteran of the Bend Police Department, prides himself on his negotiation skills and says that by staying calm and reasoning with people, he’s usually able to find a solution without letting things escalate. Last year, only one of Goff’s cases ended up in Bend Municipal Court, according to city records.
A handful of residents, however, do end up with fines to pay for their code violations. In one unusual case, a couple in southeast Bend accumulated so many violations for trash and discarded vehicles that Goff had to issue a citation for more than $120,000.
The fine was paid after it was reduced to 10 percent of the original amount.
Goff said he knows the city could generate more revenue if he issued more citations — maybe even enough to fund the code enforcement program, which is paid for with about $100,000 from the city’s general fund. But he said he feels educating people is more important than coming down hard on every violation.
“Code enforcement is one of those programs in the city where if we were aggressive, very proactive, we could definitely support the position,” Goff said. “But any time you have an enforcement program, you don’t want to have the impression that you’re issuing citations to support the program.”
Providing help
Since the economy starting taking a downturn, Goff said his approach to code enforcement has become even more important. Over the past year, he started seeing more and more homeowners around the city with code violations for things like trash disposal — and more and more people with stories about being laid off or getting behind on their bills because of an injury that put them on a fixed income.
In recent months, Goff has met people like Brandon Lueck, a 39-year-old single father of four who canceled his garbage pickup when money got tight and he was facing foreclosure. Lueck said he planned to stack up his trash and then make regular trips to the landfill, where he could drop it off for $10, but started waiting to haul it away so he could save a few dollars.
Goff could have issued Lueck a citation, but instead gave him some extra time to get the house cleaned up. Though Lueck eventually lost the house to foreclosure, he finished the cleanup — and gives credit to Goff’s willingness to give him some extra help.
“He was really great to work with and gave me a couple of extensions because I was a single father working two jobs,” Lueck said.
Brad Bailey, the president and owner of Bend Garbage & Recycling, said he’s not surprised to hear that the city is having more problems with people disposing of their trash improperly. Over the past several months, he said, he’s seen a drop in business with fewer construction projects going up and more people making tough choices about where they spend their money.
“We’ve had more delinquent accounts here recently than we’ve had for a while. ... People are having to decide where each dollar goes, and food is definitely going to be more important than garbage.”
Flexibility matters
Though times are tough and Goff tries to be flexible with many cases, he said he also wants to make sure the code violations are resolved. When he checks in with people, Goff carries books with contact information for local social service groups. If a family in need of help has children, he gets in touch with advocates at their schools to let them know about the situation.
A code enforcement officer, Oberst said, has to be ready to play many roles to get the job done.
“They have badges, have authority to write citations into court, but we have great staff that are sympathetic and understanding ... which goes a long way, because we’re not out there to tell them they’re bad, and they need to get with the program, and we’re going to send them to prison,” he said. “We’re out there to help with a problem that has been identified.”
City officials are working on plans for a new biennial budget and will almost certainly have to make some cuts to programs and services. Oberst and Goff said they’re hopeful code enforcement will weather the storm — particularly because the program has already been hit hard by previous rounds of budget cuts.
Goff said keeping people informed about the city code and keeping properties in the city safe and well maintained are important parts of providing a high quality of life in Bend.
“You think our housing market is bad now — if you eliminate code enforcement from the city of Bend, you’re going to see a drop in property values, more life and safety issues, people living in travel trailers ... It would turn into a mess,” Goff said.
Erin Golden can be reached at 541-617-7837 or at egolden@bendbulletin.com.
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