Contact Information:

Tim Salyers, Code Compliance Coordinator, (503) 786-7409 Sarah Lander, Code Compliance Assistant, (503) 786-7564 
Code Compliance E-mail:
 

The Code Compliance Division is responsible for neighborhood preservation, code compliance and nuisance abatement.  The division is housed within the Community Services Office to facilitate the cross-departmental and inter-agency coordination that is often required to solve livability problems within the city and along its borders.  The City accomplishes this through public education about codes and nuisances, emphasis on voluntary compliance before enforcement, conflict resolution, resource referral, and ultimately court-ordered abatement.  Code compliance also indirectly serves as a detection mechanism for social problems that may be present at a given property.  The Code Compliance Specialist coordinates and centralizes compliance and enforcement activities that cut across several departments such as building, planning, storm, sewer, streets, police and fire.  This division also currently administers the parking enforcement program in the downtown area.

Code Enforcement Procedures

FILING A COMPLAINT: 
You can call the Code Enforcement Division and speak to one of the officers or you may also complete and e-mail the complaint form. Code Enforcement will review the information and investigate to determine if there is a violation of the Municipal Ordinance. 

INVESTIGATING A COMPLAINT: 
Once a complaint is received, Code Enforcement staff will make a site visit to determine if a violation exists. If there is a violation, Code Enforcement will determine who the responsible party/property owner is. Once that is established, the appropriate parties will be notified of the violation(s). This notification may either be in person or by correspondence. 

NOTIFICATIONS: 
Once it has been determined who the responsible party is, Code Enforcement staff will notify them of the violation(s). This notification may take the form of personal contact, a warning left in the form of a door hanger or by letter. In certain situations, such as health or safety matters, or repeat violations, there may be no notification and a citation may be issued. No matter what form of notification is given; there will be a due date by which the corrections must be completed by to avoid further enforcement action. If, after the first notice, there is no abatement of the violation by the due date, staff may issue a second notice. This notice will be in written form and will also have a due date by which the violations must be corrected. In certain instances there may be no second notice and Code Enforcement staff may issue a citation to appear in court. If after the final notice the violation is not abated, the violator may be issued a citation to appear in municipal court. 

CITATION: 
If a code violation case gets to the point of citation, the responsible party/property owner may be issued an Oregon Uniform Citation and Complaint. Once this citation is issued, the person receiving the citation is required to appear in court on the date given on the citation. If after judicial proceedings a defendant is found to be guilty of violating the municipal ordinance, the judge may impose a civil penalty, similar to a fine. 

ABATEMENT: 
If after citation the situation is not corrected, the City may post the property with Notice to Abate. At the end of the ten (10) day period, the City may enter the property, with judicial approval, to remove, or abate, the violations. Once the abatement is completed, the property owner will be billed for the associated costs. If after 30 days of billing the abatement costs are not paid, the City may place a lien on the property to recover the cost of abatement.
 

Last updated: 10/03/2008