By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Yachats City Manager Shannon Beaucaire plans to use a temporary employment agency to hire a part-time person to take care of a backlog of pressing issues – including stepping up code enforcement.
Beaucaire outlined her plan after Wednesday night’s City Council meeting where Planning Commission member Mary Ellen O’Shaughnessey expressed her frustration – and indicated it was a growing sentiment in the community – that code enforcement not a city priority.
Two other speakers echoed her comments.
“The code enforcement position has been vacant for a very long time. It’s time to fill it,” O’Shaughnessey told the council. “It is a big deal. It’s a legitimate concern.”
She asked the council and Beaucaire to offer enough pay to hire a professional, half-time employee who knew the area and would commit to the job.
And, if there are plans in the works, O’Shaughnessey said, please share them with the community.
“No one knows what’s going on,” she said. “It’s your responsibility as a council to communicate what’s going on.”
Beaucaire or Mayor John Moore did not address O’Shaughnessey after her comments.
Only after the meeting, when asked by YachatsNews.com, did Beaucaire say she was preparing a job description and other details for a temporary agency to advertise the job, collect resumes and screen applicants. The position would be for a specific time period, for specific projects and be for 20 hours a week, she said.
“I’m concerned about some things not being addressed,” Beaucaire said after the council meeting. “The city cares a lot. We know the perception.”
The person would work with the city planner to deal with code enforcement, she said, but also tackle projects such as inspecting vacation rentals and instituting a long-stalled program to inspect grease traps in commercial kitchens around town.
Since January the city has contracted with David Mattison of Tillamook to spend one day a week in Yachats to handle planning issues and code enforcement. But there is growing sentiment – especially in the busy summer season – that code enforcement and other non-planning projects are not being handled or handled quickly enough.
Issues comes up regularly
Code enforcement has come up this year during every public discussion on vacation rentals, during Planning or Budget commission meetings, and with the Finance Committee. The city has budgeted $80,000 for all aspects of code enforcement each of the last two years.
Beaucaire has mentioned efforts to partner with the city of Waldport and Lincoln County to share a code enforcement officer – but said that could be two years away – and using computer software to better accept, track and respond to code complaints.
The City Council has also previously approved adding two full-time City Hall employees – whose duties are still to be decided — once other pressing projects are finished and Beaucaire comes up with a staffing plan.
Currently there are two full-time employees at City Hall – Beaucaire and utility clerk Kimmie Jackson – and four people working part-time on contracts to handle planning, facilities, finances and city records.
Several council members, when asked by YachatsNews.com, said Beaucaire and her staff have been buried in important projects like the move to a new website, changing to a new finance software system, a spring deadline to make changes to the city charter, dealing with the takeover of Ocean View Drive, facility issues, vacation rentals and all the other daily concerns that come up with a demanding retirement and tourist community.
There is also hope that an easier-to-use “report a concern” portal on the city’s month-old website will be used more and give people confidence that their complaint is being addressed.
“People complain to each other but they don’t complain to the city,” Moore said Wednesday night. “But if someone does complain, we address it.”
O’Shaughnessey contends that people don’t complain to the city “because they have given up.”
Debate over staffing
Councilor Max Glenn said Thursday that the city’s workload has been “awful” and now that many issues are getting settled there will be time to address staffing, especially as city offices move to the 501 Building.
“I’m glad she didn’t jump in and hire staff,” Glenn said of Beaucaire. “We need this time to sort out what we need – how much is catch-up work and how much is staff work. Staffing and re-organization is the next big step.”
Councilor Leslie Vaaler said Thursday she appreciated O’Shaughnessey’s comments, agreed that it is a widespread concern and hopes the city can find someone who lives in the city and is available daily to respond to complaints.
She also said, because two councils have approved budgets for code enforcement and little has been done, it may be time for current members to act more forcefully.
“Not down-playing the challenges of locating and hiring an appropriate individual to work in code enforcement, I believe that enough time has elapsed without obvious progress to justify council considering further policy regarding code enforcement,” she said in an email. “I am confident that we will give thoughtful consideration to options that our city manager brings forth …”
Councilor James Kerti seemed to agree – but also said that communicating any plans for code enforcement and overall staffing is an issue as well.
“Council has been hearing the community’s concerns about the urgency of getting reliable, fair code enforcement and recognizes the importance of it,” Kerti said in an email. “We’ve had discussions in the last few months about the best way to do that. It would be appropriate for us to make decisions soon about next steps so that we can start getting toward the results that the community wants and needs.”
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Editor’s note: Quinton Smith worked from June 15 to Sept. 15, 2018 as the contract code enforcement officer for the city of Yachats. A retired newspaper editor, he started YachatsNews.com in January 2019.