Our city council strategic planning meeting for November 4th to order.

Can I get a motion on the approval of the minutes from 819?

So move.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Minutes will stand without objection.

Council, I want to make you aware that we do have one other item we're going to add to our discussion items.

After code enforcement, we have invited the China Area Food Bank to join us to give us an update on how our community is responding to the withholding of SNAP benefits from the federal government and how we can potentially be involved in the short-term and hopefully hopefully only short-term solutions.

So let's go ahead and welcome code enforcement.

We've got code enforcement.

So I guess I need to hook up here.

Yes, please.

Okay, yes.

I don't know if it'll reach all of these.

Thank you so much.

Okay.

Okay, so um code enforcement addresses property maintenance issues.

More specifically, housing and structure violations, um, litter, overgrowth, and inoperable vehicles on private property only.

We condemn structures that are no longer safe to live in.

But just because the structure is condemned doesn't mean it's going to be demolished because the majority of those actually the owner will hire a contractor who will pull permits and make repairs and get a new certificate of occupancy so that the structures can be occupied again.

For the most dangerous structures, we do go ahead and perform demolition uh after we get demolition orders.

For structures that we find are dangerous to first responders, like maybe an inspector's out and sees that there are holes in the floor or holes in the roof, then we actually provide that information to 911 dispatch.

When tenants request it, we can tow inoperable vehicles off of private property after giving the owner time to take care of it.

Um and we place lanes for the cost of those.

Um is uh inoperable inoperable vehicles on the street, and that would be CPD, uh chicken issues, that's McCaymie, and then of course, homeless camps, that would be homeless initiatives.

We towed 37 inoperable vehicles from private property, and we condemned 148 dangerous structures.

65 of the condemned structures were repaired and livable again because we kept pursuing court with the property owners.

We brought 11,893 code violations into compliance, and 1937 of those cases required court action.

Our cases are tracked in City View.

That's the software that we use, and it interfaces with GoGov.

So we receive our 311 request directly into our system.

It schedules inspections and reinspections for our inspectors.

It populates notices, documents, and uh and summonses, and it requires the inspectors to upload photographs after every inspection, and it provides a daily to-do list for all of our inspectors so that it keeps us on track.

Recently, we've taken some steps to shorten compliance.

Basically, we are no longer granting any time extensions.

So if someone is given uh a notice to cut their grass or clean up litter, they have two weeks at the end of that two-week period, they're cited to court.

They don't they are not granted any time extensions, even if they provide an excuse, which is fine.

Um, the Judge Paddy can grant additional time extensions if she feels it's warranted.

We are also increasing the use of daily fines.

Judge Paddy has been supporting that very well, but an owner is simply not willing to correct the violations, but has the ability to do so.

And we are also abating occupied properties now, which um if the if the property has been problematic and we have not been able to bring it into compliance any other way, then we can get a court order and actually go on to the property, clean up the litter, whatever is required.

Um, of course, there again, it is limited to litter overgrowth, um, you know, or removing inoperable vehicles, and then some not so recent changes are um in the past we also took unoccupied properties and vacant property violations to court before we abated them, but we changed so that we were only required to post a public nuisance, mail a public nuisance, and then we were allowed to go ahead and continue with abatement and place the lien for the cost with just those notices.

So timelines.

We we know that sometimes it takes a while to bring properties into compliance, but we are also need to give property owners due due process so that they have an opportunity to make their required repairs.

Our public nuisance notices again.

Since we're going to be abating it ourselves and placing a lien on the property, we do give them 10 days to bring the property and into compliance before we proceed.

For violation notices on occupied properties, they have 10 business days for litter overgrowth and inoperable vehicles, or 30 business days for structure violations to bring those into compliance.

And and if those are not in compliance, then they are cited to court, and the hearings are three to four weeks after that reinspection.

For demolition hearings, we are required to provide a minimum of 30 days' notice to the property owner and all interested parties.

Once a demolition order is issued, we're required to wait an additional 60 days to allow the property owner to file a temporary restraining order in chancery court if they want to prevent the demolition of their structure.

So, what should you expect if we're doing a systematic inspection or a blitz in your district?

Okay, so our entire inspection team will be performing inspections in your district for two days looking for code violations.

Yellow violation tags will be posted as at addresses that have violations after two weeks or six weeks for structure violations.

The properties will be reinspected, and if violations remain, owners of occupied properties will be cited to environmental court.

Vacant properties will begin the abatement process.

Are there questions?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, we've got a lot.

Okay, okay.

Councilman Burns, did you raise your hand also?

I think well, I know it got to get the order here.

I mean we've got councilwoman Dotley, Councilman Burr, Councilman Elliott, Councilwoman Knoll, uh, Councilman Henderson, Councilman World.

All right, y'all remember that order and take it amongst yourselves.

Okay, go for it, Councilwoman.

Okay, thank you so much, Madam Chair.

Donald, this is so fantastic.

I think there's a good education for all of us with some of the uh information that you've provided.

So I had a question about uh you mentioned occupied property abatements.

Um again, what happens with those?

You they're not in compliance, but someone lives there.

Is that what you're like?

What is how how does that work?

What is okay?

So we've had a few cases where uh they they just had their hoarders and the litter has been very problematic and the neighbors have been very upset.

And so um if we've taken it to court and we we have done everything that we can to try to get the owner to comply, and they don't, then um we asked Judge Patty to sign an order for us to bait the occupied property um and then we send uh vendors onto the property to clean up the mess, and we do keep an inspector on site while that takes place.

We take a lot of photographs and things like that to document everything.

Uh sometimes police are needed, um, you know, and and we do get police involved if the owners or the occupants are um you know very aggressive or whatever.

Yes.

Okay.

And then so we're paying for this, and then that's it.

And we place the lien on the property.

And then that's paid out with their property taxes.

Yes, they receive a bill.

Okay, um, yes, and then of course, if they don't pay it, you know, then it just remains, it just continues on.

Um, if they sell the property and the buyer wants a warranty deed instead of a quick claim deed, then of course you know the title company would reach out and and make sure that um those liens are paid out of the proceeds at the closing generally.

And it's collected in the back tax sale if there is a back tax.

Yes, yes, it is.

Okay.

And then my next question is uh inoperable vehicles told from private property.

What is the because I understand uh on the street, you know, they have to have you know their tags have to be uh up to date and all those things that they're not, you know, uh CPD can handle that part for the inoperable vehicles told from private property.

How long does that process take?

Like if I call and say my neighbor has had a broken down car and jar for 30 days, you know, how long does it take for us to get get into that?

Okay, so after the initial inspection, um they would have two weeks to either show that the car that the car runs, the vehicle runs, and that would involve them calling the inspector, the inspector would meet with them, they would need to get in the car, crank it up, show that they can drive it forward, back it up, drive it in reverse.

Oh uh, yeah.

Um, and if they do that, then uh we close the case as compliant.

Okay, um, it doesn't matter if the car's beat up or whatever, if it if it runs, you know, it's okay.

Um, and and then if they don't contact us within two weeks and show that it runs, and if they don't remove the vehicle themselves, then they they are cited to court, and then Judge Paddy can grant additional time, or she can issue a tow order.

Okay, and and then if a tow order is issued, the inspector goes ahead and posts it to the property uh to allow one last chance for the owner to remove the vehicle.

Um, and and if they don't, then we go ahead and tow the vehicle.

If the owner wants to reclaim the vehicle back, then they have to go to the tow company and pay the tow fee, the storage fee, um, and provide ownership in order to reclaim the vehicle.

And then you know, and we always let them know if they're reclaiming the vehicle that they don't need to bring it back there, you know, they need to send it somewhere to be repaired or or something.

Yes, okay.

Okay, and then uh who handles our demolition hearings?

Is that still Judge Paddy?

Uh Judge X, uh Jim X.

Jim X, okay, okay.

He's our public officer, yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, he's fantastic.

He is, yes, we're very happy with him.

Yes.

Okay.

And I think I think that's all my questions.

Thank you so much, madam chair.

Thank you, Donald.

Thank you.

I have a list in order, so um, I'm I'm gonna tack on to one question just popped up uh based on the conversation with Councilwoman Dotley.

How do we recoup recoup our expenses when we have to tow a vehicle if they never come and claim it?

There's no charge.

Uh because the you have an expense, right?

No.

No, okay.

There's no charge.

The tow company, if nobody reclaims the vehicle, they take ownership of the vehicle and they sell it.

The tow company, okay.

Okay.

Oh, yeah.

All right.

Uh my two questions are um uh when you when you speak of vacant proper property, does that uh include commercial property?

Yes, okay.

And so what's an example of a vacant commercial property that may get a violation?

Um uh 2000, what's the 2003 Wilcox Boulevard, the old church over there?

Um yeah, it's it's a vacant property.

Um, and so we have we took it actually to demolition hearing because we couldn't get the owner to um do anything with it, and so it's been in Chancery Court for quite some time now, where um the chancery judge has given them additional time to get it rezoned and try to do something with the property.

That's that's been a long case on that one.

Is it just uh properties that are in disrepair?

Yes, commercial properties and then disrepair.

Yes, um, um I mean if if a structure is vacant but it doesn't have any code violations, you know, it doesn't like need to be painted or or have rotts.

Yeah, yeah, then um it's fine.

We don't okay.

And then when uh during the blitz when you go and tag uh or find violations with different properties, um how do you ver how are you verifying whether you leave a tag or it's mailed?

And I'm thinking what what's prompting my question is you have a lot of properties that aren't uh owner occupied.

So if if I'm renting, I see a tag, oh well.

Right.

Okay, so what our inspectors do is um while they're on site, and a lot of times if the violation is litter or even overgrowth or inoperable vehicles, chances are it may be on the tenant.

But um, so the violation tags the inspector marks on the back what the issue is, posts it to the property, but then the inspector also checks, and if the mailing address for the owner is not the same as the rental property, then we will mail a notice of violation to the property owner.

Okay, that's all I have right now.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Elliott.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I know there's been some conversations with um where you guys are looking at ways to make co-enforcement even more effective in our roles.

When can we expect to see some of those uh proposals?

Okay, uh well, I know that we are still looking at ways to turn fines, court fines, into lanes.

Um we are exploring that um and uh also you know, looking at other ways to to maybe um take properties that have been have just had a very bad track record as far as constant issues um and do something perhaps more aggressively with those.

Right now, our best tool really is demolition hearings, um, because you know, if they plan to do anything at all, and we take it to a demolition hearing, and and we haven't been able to get them to address the issues with the property prior to that.

If it meets demolition criteria and we can get them to a demolition hearing right now, that's our best that is our best tool.

But other other than that, really um Phil may be able to help me on this as far as um we we have been reaching out to try to work out some things with turning uh city court fines into liens on properties and then other ways to collect liens if necessary.

Well needs uh the presenting those I don't know.

We are still meeting on those, and I know um I know Bill Gore has uh he's had some conversations um also uh with an attorney uh about that, but at this point that is um I'm involved in it, but I'm not leading the charge.

We'll put it that way.

I'd like to add something to what Donna is saying.

So for more than a year or almost a year now, we've been convening a multidisciplinary group of departments to figure out how to turn up the heat on neighbors that need to do a better job at being neighbors.

We as a catchy operation better neighbor.

The next time we meet, I'll be sure that we invite the entire council.

That work of connecting codes and police and fire and neighborhood services and homelessness services and legal has gotten us some serious progress with regard to the liens, but it is definitely slow.

So I don't know that we have a date on when we'll be able to turn over the the new information about how to turn the court fines into liens, but that is work that the legal team is doing.

Okay, and and that's a big part of the enforcement, and you probably saw that in the um the auditors report as well.

Um, because if we've got fines sitting on the books and nobody ever has to pay them, then it's costing us money to um fix these properties, but um they can continue to be repeat offenders if there's no accountability on the part of the property.

And and on the liens, also when they're about to expire at this point, we are tracking those and sending them back over to AM in the city attorney's office, and then we're basically renewing those liens as they approach their 10-year life expiration.

Yeah, are you guys making any ordinance recommendations to potentially help code enforcement do their jobs?

You mean making changes to code um I I don't know that we need any ordinance changes at this time.

So that's not even somebody has a reviewing.

Well, we are reviewing our processes and our ordinances.

Um at this point, we haven't really come up with anything specific that we make that that can be um implemented immediately to shorten compliance times or to make or to basically give code enforcement warranty because there again um we do have to give owners due process.

I mean, we have discussed a number of things, and there have been times many many years ago that um liens were actually foreclosed on, you know, and properties taken.

But um, that was something that actually was um not cost effective for the city.

We'll put it that way.

I think I think we see the greatest opportunity for ordinance change at the lien piece and how we might change the way the liens are read.

So uh that was something to get.

Yeah, and then the reason I asked is this is something that I had started looking into and not even understanding that another group was looking into it as well.

Um largely selfishly for the purposes of my district to start really start cleaning up some areas that need some help that's been overly neglected for a while, and I was under the assumption there were some ordinances that were being reviewed that at some point were going to be proposed to council to consider.

So and if that's not the case, we can take this offline too, so we don't have to I don't mean to cut you off, but I don't want to put anybody on the seat unnecessarily uh on something, but um yeah.

Okay, so please provide us with where you would like for us to focus our attention if we're missing some areas and and on occupied properties.

There again, we are getting orders now where we can't evade those occupied properties.

I know like 4228 forest plaza.

We've cleaned it up numerous times.

There are a couple of other addresses that we've cleaned up numerous times where there are hoarding situations or people have allowed um homeless uh to move in with them and and they're bringing in scrap and things like that, and and we've cleaned them up over and over.

And if I could say this, this is something I'm trying to be attentional about.

I think you all know your operations and limitations and challenges better than we do.

And so I was hoping to hear from you all.

I can lean in changes, but I'm trying to respect those boundaries of the executive branch and allowing you all to work through those because I have thoughts on some things that we have looked at, but I'm trying to make sure this is collaborative as possible.

So I'll be looking forward to invitations from good neighbors.

I'll get you, and then also you might have your top um repeat frequent flyers.

Yes, that operation better neighbor can study those case studies we're learning a lot from.

It's because I you know I think there's some low-hanging fruit that we should we can capture early, you know.

There were some conversations like councilman Clark and I shared neighborhood towerway where they express great concern about um cars, abandoned vehicles just being parked in the street for months and years at a time, and understanding that those are not in the purview of codes, but trying to be creative about how do we as a city streamline those operations, and I know that is the purview of the police department.

But I understand the police department is also short staffed, so how do we kind of marry those two?

So that's that's it.

That's that's all I was asking.

So we can have a conversation more offline.

Councilman can offer a little perspective with permission here.

So I think a lot of folks know that our $50 fine maximum here dates back to maybe the 1700s, I think, where that would have been in today's dollars, thousands of thousands of dollars.

Now it of course is $50 in today's dollars.

And so a lot of times you, you know, the codes will go out and they do their job well, and then they they write a lot of these $50 violations up, and and they just sit there as you've identified.

Um now, in order to get that change, which is the obvious question, why wouldn't you just increase that to something that would actually get people's attention?

The problem is that is written into the charter of the state of Tennessee, and just like our charter, we have to go and change that.

That requires a referendum.

That would be a statewide referendum in which all voters are intellectual have to vote to increase that up.

That is why the state has given us the administrative hearing officer tool, which many of you are familiar with.

Administrative hearing officer can do fines and not fines, they are civil penalties.

Thank you for helping me catch myself there.

Um and that can be much more effective at getting people's attention.

And so we've been on a journey the last couple of years to start using that AHO tool a lot more often.

And I know Donna's office has been looking at that, and so we will we will hopefully be able to show you more and more results as we move forward where that tool is being used to get attention and to bring people back into compliance because this tool is not meant to be a penalty or to hurt someone or to take from someone, but rather to bring them back into the good graces of the law and society.

So that would we'd like to do more of that.

Thank you, Ellis.

And I'm unfamiliar with the AHO.

Um, I understand council gives parameters as to what can go before AHL.

And I would like to see from you all's perspective, what are some things that you may recommend that we can open those parameters to lie to give you guys more teeth?

Not only once we figure out a better way to collect fines or fees, actually make these penalties stick, but what are some ways we can have some more teeth to some other problem areas?

So uh we can talk more about it, but that's all thank you for thank you, Vice Chairwoman No.

Okay, thank you.

Um Ms.

Castile.

So um actually had three questions, but two of them have already been answered.

Um the fines that people are giving, is their interest occurring on those fines?

Um no, not at this time, and and I will point out that Judge Pagey is often allowing us to um get daily fines for each violation.

So if you have an address that has litter, that's one overgrowth, that's one, and there can be multiple housing violations that may need to paint, replace the roof, um different things like that.

So there may be three housing violations.

That can be five fifty dollar fines, and she will let us have daily fines for cases that are dragging on.

So we are I mean, we have cases that have thousands of dollars in fines from environmental court, but the issue is there's no way to make people pay those fines.

Yeah, and and so I feel strongly that the ability to place link to turn fines into lings is going to be an extremely good tool for us.

Okay, so and and I'm I'm just speaking uh from the Great District 8.

The struggle is real, so you know, fifty dollars might not be a lot to any of us sitting in this room, but to a lot of my constituents in the Great District 8, $50 is a lot of money.

Um and the fact that a lot of them live on Social Security or FSI, and that's the only source of income, it can be a strain, even though they know they have things that need to be done and work undone on their home, but they don't have the money to do it.

Um so my next my last question is I as a city council representative.

Do I have the option to opt out of this blitz for my district?

Um it's up to you.

So you can you can opt out.

Okay, and and for citizens who deal do tell us, you know, I know I need to paint my house, I don't have the money or whatever.

Um we do provide them with lists of resources that may be able to help them, although I know you know the waiting lists are long and there isn't enough help to go around.

Um and if they do end up in court, Judge Pady um, you know, generally will maybe have them come back a few times and ask, you know, have you checked this, have you checked that, that kind of thing.

Right.

Um, but but I do understand that that is an issue, and and that's another thing that we are working with um neighborhood services on the neighborhood relationship specialists as far as they've been reaching out to their neighborhood association groups, and also churches to to try to find some additional resources uh to provide help for people who cannot maintain their homes or even cut their grass and things.

Right.

Okay, I think so.

Well, I said that was my last, but it's I got something else in vehicles that's inoperable.

Um if that vehicle is covered, if it's if it's behind a fence okay does that keep you from if we can't see it from like the street street, or if the like if the neighbor complains and they can see it from their backyard, yes, um, you know, and they tell us and they want us to come and take a look, then we can we can look from we we can from a distance, yes.

Um yeah, or if somebody has it in their garage, that's fine.

Um or if it if they have a privacy fence and we're never able to see it, and and nobody invites us to come onto their property and look.

If we if we have no ability to see the vehicle in the first place, but once we've seen it, um you know, if they like pull it behind their house where we can't see it anymore, but we still know it's there, the neighbor tells us or whatever, then they would still have to show us that it runs.

That it runs.

Yes, but a TARP doesn't.

Doesn't okay.

No.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, Councilman Henderson.

Um, to your point, uh I think somebody emailed me, and I wanted to say it was Kim Strong, but I can't find that email.

Basically asking, do we have permission to do the splits in your district?

So I did get that email.

Okay.

I did, I got that, yes.

So I uh I took from that that we could opt out of it if we chose to.

Um I I think the biggest thing was that I have a question on, and and it goes back to the liens and collecting the fines, and I I've got two properties in my district.

One is a vacant lot that they store equipment on that's not supposed to have equipment on.

They've gone to the AHO, and I think they're getting fines of $500 a day.

But so what?

It hadn't changed the thing.

It it hadn't changed the thing.

Uh another another one that I think we're going over now and and almost monthly having to mow the grass because it's an abandoned house.

In fact, I think it's condemned and they're not mowing the grass, so we're having to go mow the grass because it's in a in a subdivision.

Um can we not feel can we not put these fines and I know abatement is probably different than fines, abatement we can file liens on.

Yes.

Um it would be nice if we could file liens on the on the fines because the gentleman that's got the equipment just sitting there is just obviously ignoring the fines.

Uh is that not something that can be put onto the property tax bill?

Well, it's not a tax, it is a cost.

Well, neither is the stormwater fee, but it's placed on our property tax, and if you don't pay it, you you can still get uh chargeable back taxes.

Just as if you weren't paying your property taxes.

To be able to be collected, it would have to be authorized in the code in order to be able to do that.

In the code, as in we could make that code, yes.

I mean, we you're talking about an ordinance, ordinance and then so we this council could authorize uh liens be placed onto the property tax bill.

You could currently the only method that we're getting of those is being able to collect after the property is up for delinquent taxes for a period of time, and we can collect all of that.

Well, I I would say that that would be one ordinance that we could look at immediately is to put these liens on the fines, fines as liens, all right.

Well, yeah, we gotta make sure we're using the right words civil.

Civil penalties, civil penalties, fines, and or liens.

Okay, so the liens are on there and they are going out with the property tax notices.

The the liens for abatements that not so abatement liens, like if we cut the grass and we place a lien, yeah, then that cost is added to their property taxes, and they get that.

Those are already going on.

They're already going out, but the fines, city court fines or AHO civil penalties.

Um are not.

But we but according to Phil, we can.

Is that what I'm understanding you say?

I'm saying if you put that in an ordinance that you can collect it, yes.

That's that's one thing.

The issue is uh that determination of whether that court uh fine is something that can be collected in a lien.

I would have to look at specifically, but your expenses that you have for the city and your determination there there's currently provisions about whether something is a public nuisance or not here on properties, and if it's determined to be that at that point in time and there's a cost of abatement for that, I clearly think that's something you could put on their their bill.

Uh uh Phil has hired representatives from legal as part of Operation Better Neighbor, and they they have pointed out some tricky nuances to it.

That it's like I think personally, my thought would be let's get the language right and legal, then skip quickly to something that we just say we're gonna put it on the bill when actually we're not allowed to collect it in that way.

Because we need something that if you go to sell it, it comes we get paid.

Right.

Well, that but then the lien runs out in 10 years, we have to renew it, and that's the whole problem is you don't collect the lien until you go to sell it.

Right.

Whereas if we could add these to the property tax, then we can capture that's a little bit more immediate or they don't pay it, and then we can file the lien that is filed in court, is clearly showing on the uh the property for any title search that is done.

So if someone sells that property, then you get paid as a result of that.

That's but I mean the the situation with the equipment that's just sitting on the makeup property, yeah, they're just ignoring it.

They're just ignoring the fine parking, and my guess is that that piece of property, as long as he pays his property tax, he can use it for a parking lot to store illegal equipment, or I say illegal equipment to equipment that he's not supposed to do.

So I I mean it uh I would like to, of course, if you're saying you're already looking into whether those fines could be placed on the property tax bill.

I mean, I I think we go about it that way and get the language right, but otherwise they're gonna continue to ignore the fine.

I mean, we thought taking them to AHO to whether we can impose a $500 a day fine would get somebody's attention, but if you decide you're not gonna pay it, then you're not gonna pay it.

But to me, that's I say that is our number one problem as you never collect and and and make the that's where the teeth are.

Councilman Clark.

Uh thank you, Chairwoman.

I actually have four questions, but I want to one of my questions is related to how we're using the fines as liens, because what I'm hearing is that we don't have a strong enough enforcement mechanism to actually stop what we're trying to enforce because either we're not collecting it or and it's just sitting there or accumulating.

So my question, this may be a wild assertion, so bear with me on this, Bill.

Yes, is that if my ideal and question maybe to some of the policy people in the room, is that if they don't care about fines and they don't care about keeping the property up, then why are we not having discussions about imminent domain and taking the properties and putting them into the uh inventory of the city so it can be developed and we can use it for affordable housing because to your point is if they're accumulating uh fees from the administrative hearing officer that amounts to 20,000?

You know, they have no intent on developing that, and I think that hurts the city, especially in a city where we don't have ordinance that allows us to uh tax vacant lives.

So that's one thing I I don't know your thoughts.

I would love to hear our thoughts on that.

I think we shouldn't use eminent domain uh to start seizing properties that people aren't keeping up that are accumulating these types of fees.

And so that was my uh question.

Um how can we use how can we better use the administrative hearing officer to be impactful?

Because we're hearing all these stuff, but nothing's happening.

So I just be curious to know what are your thoughts on that or what you know about it.

I know Chris Well, my initial thought would be sounds like we have some real concern and digging in together on how we tackle um this next step of enforcement.

We have made progress from where we've been, um there's more to be done.

So I will get us an operation better neighbor meeting specifically about this on the calendar in the next in this month.

And then whoever wants to attend can will get a full update from legal codes, um, police, because it's it's complicated and we're moving the ball, but we need to keep moving it.

It's great that we've got this energy.

But the idea is to make sure our enforcement is actually getting getting us a results, and so far it is not, and so I think we might need to be a little bit stricter.

You know, we talked about this last night, and maybe seizing properties that don't want to come in compliance with our code.

So that's the follow-up question to that.

Don, I have a question about the blitz.

Now, uh just so you all know what started the blitz is that my district was already blitzed and I didn't know it.

Now, the the caveat of that is is that we welcomed it.

My district had become a landfill where people putting mattresses out, you know, brush.

And I was like, not in my suburban district five, okay.

That is the greater fifth district, not to be confused.

District the great eight.

So you're welcome.

The blitz, you know, I think we need stricter code enforcement.

But my question, Donna, to you as a lesson from what happened in my district, which thank you for doing the blitz.

And by the way, district five is back on the blitz schedule for March.

It doesn't hurt to come back again and blitz us again because we're that behind.

How are we cross-referencing this with 311 requests?

Because in my blitz, we did give a violation notice to people who had 311 requests, and I know there's a backlog of that.

So tell me your process in very short layman's terms.

Sure.

What we are doing to make sure we cross-reference 311 requests that they're not getting violated.

Okay, so we do have access to to look in 311 to see if someone has entered a request or not.

Um and so before hanging a tag or whatever, um, then we do check to to see you know if someone turned in a request.

There was a little bit of confusion because on some of those, um, it stated that a pickup had been made, or maybe the request was closed out, closed out, uh, and it had been a couple of months, and and but um it was maybe 10 or 15 percent had called in, period.

And so um, so we were we went ahead and hung the tags with an idea that this is educational, and then we went ahead and made a list that we turned into Ricky Colston to get everything picked up.

I think there were 398 pickups.

Wow, and then there were a hundred yeah, and then there were a hundred and eighty-seven typical property maintenance uh code cases open.

So, but you you all are implementing a cross-reference to make sure that before you hang that yellow, which I heard is now a blue tag.

It's no blue.

I wish it were red.

I'm very strict on code enforcement.

I wish it was red because I'm not playing, like people need to stop making our communities landfill.

Okay, um so my other question is are there any particular items that you will be honing in on on the blitz?

Like, are you looking for chip paint uh overgrowth?

Like, what are you training them to say, especially look at this in the blitz?

Okay, so if at all.

Okay, so typically um property maintenance violations.

So if the grass is overgrown, if the yard is littered, if they have a freezer on their front porch.

Gotcha.

Um we're in the south.

We're in the city, gotcha.

Ineoperable vehicles and they need to be obviously in all the places.

He's got pig fee in his freezer on his back porch.

Oh, your front porch.

I'm sorry, okay.

So yeah, and then and then as far as housing violations are concerned, we do understand that that some people can't afford to paint their house or whatever.

So um, you know, um, we do try to not be overly strict, let's put it that way.

So, if for example, the inspector drives down a street and everybody on that street needs to paint their house, but nobody complained about it, then we may not write those up immediately.

We may be a little bit more linear and move on to bigger things, like, oh gosh, there's that a tree filter, they're really good.

So there's some discretion.

So there is some.

But should the public be aware as we're preparing these blitzes that y'all are focusing on like what are y'all focusing in on that the public can in two weeks get ready to get their stuff cleaned up.

I know all of it could be subject to violation, but is there anything in particular that the public needs to be preparing themselves for to be ready for?

Well, I I think the main things are litter, gotcha, overgrowth, inoperable vehicles in their yards.

We understand that housing issues, if there's something major, gotcha, uh, might take a little bit longer, but um, if there's something that they can go ahead and you know, take care of on their house within a couple of weeks, then be prepared.

Yes, we would like for them to be prepared.

Okay, and there again, we also understand that you know, coming into the winter months, if somebody really needs to paint their house.

We do understand that it's hard to paint during cold weather.

So if there's not a complaint about it, we we may say that for a little bit later on.

Last question, uh, Chairwoman Hill, is this is in reference to the rain smart program.

Um, who are the code, tell us how you work with the rain smart program, which I'm a I'm a fan of the program, but not the enforcement portion of it.

Who on our enforcement team, if at all, is trained to enforce what overgrowth is in comparison to native uh grass in the rain smart program.

Okay, so we really depend on the rain smart specialists that are not code enforcement as well.

So to the rain smart specialists are the people who are not in code enforcement, are the ones who are trained to go and inspect to see if it's in compliance with our city code.

They they are, but Rain Smart did come less than a month ago and they updated us on their process and they did provide us with some training.

Um they also provided us with access to a map that shows us what addresses have uh, you know, our approved rain smart yards, and then whenever something comes up, we reach out to them to also take a look, and um they are trying to be a little bit um, I guess more particular in what is allowed and what is not allowed.

They they are providing guidance to the property owners, and then if the property owners do not um follow the requirements specifically, then they can get omitted from the program.

Okay, thank you, madam chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Elliott, did you have a quick follow-up?

I want to make sure we've got time for the just two questions.

Um Councilman Ola had sparked something, sorry, some of my eye had uh sparked a question.

Um is there any formal um what's the name of it?

Uh relief program or any like written policy program that we follow for those who may be elderly, disabled or on fixed incomes, who found themselves out of compliance with the code or facing fines.

Are there any steps we take to work with folks or any four-bloss program?

Okay, so our inspectors um do have lists that they keep with them of um various um programs that could provide assistance.

There again, there's simply not enough assistance, but we have been working um with the neighborhood services team, the neighborhood relationship specialists, they are reaching out to neighborhood associations and church groups to try to get lists of what um you know these churches or neighborhood associations are able to help other people with so that we can do a better job of connecting people who need assistance with the assistance.

Let me ask you this for clarity.

So let's say I have a resident in my district who may be disabled, they find themselves out of compliance, hit with some type of code violation.

Do we automatically send that to court?

Well, at this point, we're not ranting time extensions, so um we would send it to court, but Judge Pady, um, you know, she also provides lists of assistance programs and things like that.

And so what she does when those types of cases go to court is she asks, you know, have you applied for these programs?

Um, and and then normally she will pass the case and allow them time to apply, and then whenever they come back, um, you know, she'll ask them, have you applied or not?

Um and you know, if if they have and maybe they're waiting or whatever, then she she will simply continue to pass the case to allow them time.

Um if if they don't apply and they don't make some sort of attempt, you know, I've seen her like issue a five-dollar fine and close the case.

Can uh I ask this, I would love to see if we can have some type of formalized process where you know we come across somebody with um a hardship, they can fill out a hardship form or something and formally letting us know that hey, I can't I understand I acknowledge it, but I'm having a hard time addressing it while they at least get some type of help.

Um, and I say that especially um for um I feel like this over here, Councilman Clark.

Um you get distracted easy.

I'm a medicational specialist.

I may this of yourself.

Uh I say this is because it all it seems like a lot of us are leaning towards how do you strengthen beefing up code enforcement, right?

I'm with Council McClark.

Um there's parts of my district that have just been dumping routes, and I'm tired of seeing it that way.

Let's clean it up.

But um I also don't want those folks to fall in the cracks.

Sure.

So is this something that your office can explore?

I don't know if we can legally set something up in conjunction with Judge Pady, but I would like to see some type of process as we're moving towards strengthening code enforcement and liens and fines and everything else, so we're just not hitting folks.

Um, so I guess um, you know, we do try to try to connect them with maybe some resources.

There are not really enough resources.

You know, it's up to her purview to decide whether or not to grant time extensions or to close the case, that kind of thing.

But but on the other hand, you may have a neighbor who is complaining about someone who cannot maintain their property.

And we do see that a lot.

Sorry, other than we not have a discretion before we cite something.

Whenever she's dealing with issues on there as part of her judicial powers, uh she has that authority.

The problem that you have with your uh folks here in the city is they're supposed to be treating everyone equally.

Yes.

And whenever they're treating everyone equally, that's the reason they issue uh citations and fines, they get them to the court, and then the judge uses her discretion back and forth on that.

So by letting so well, we're at 250, so I'd like to wrap this up because the snap benefit conversation is critically important.

And we will continue this codes conversation later.

Um, but one final thing I'll point out is I think it's really helpful to know that you all um brought 11,893 code violations into compliance, or the people of Chattanooga had that many code violations and brought them into compliance.

They mowed their yard, they did whatever, they were good neighbors to their neighbors.

Um they worked together to solve those problems and 1937 required court action.

So this council is having intense conversation about some of our frequent flyers that we have that all of us in our districts know that our neighborhood associations are frustrated by.

Um I I think that has been done with with a heart of compassion, but also of fairness, um, and we can continue to have this conversation and explore councilman Elliott's point about is there any further structure that we need to have for people who are genuinely unable to maintain their properties and and how might they take accountability for that in a way that that works um works for them and for their neighbors.

Thank you very much.

We're at 252.

Can you take do it offline?

Yeah, but okay, thank you.

Let's get the food bank on up here, please.

We might need to um we might need to go until 310 folks.

Oh, I'm sorry, thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Hello, hello.

Thank you all so much for having me this afternoon.

I will be very respectful of your time.

John, I'm gonna stick around so that people can ask questions afterwards.

Come to this side.

Okay, one over.

Yeah.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Okay, well, thank you all so much for having me this afternoon.

It's great to see everyone, and thank you for your service.

We did meet with Mayor Kelly yesterday and gave him an update on what the Chattanooga Food Bank and our network partners are doing to address the disruption of SNAP benefits for our Hamilton County neighbors and our Chattanooga neighbors.

We thought it'd be grateful to share some information with you all as well.

We do have a few slides to run through, certainly we'll go through those quickly.

Um you introduce yourself.

I absolutely will.

I'm so sorry.

I'm Melissa Blevins.

I have the privilege to serve as the president and CEO of the Chattanooga Area Food Bank.

Thank you guys.

I think I've been emailing with what we move.

Um and I'll if you guys have questions, I can stay as long as you all need me to as well.

Um, I do have Lori Bell and uh Corey Ebbett from the Chattanooga Food Bank here as well, um Chief Impact Officer and our director of data insights.

So let's do that to the front here.

A little bit about us, our food bank.

We are the Chattanooga Area Food Bank, which means 20 counties.

I'll really hone in today on um on the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County, but just in context, um we we have a broad reach of 7,000 square miles, 20 counties across the state lines.

We serve about 200 community partners, most of those are faith-based partners providing hunger solutions, not just in pantries, but in our schools, at our senior centers and our veteran centers.

Um we work uh through three locations, two of them are within the Chattanooga proper, um, our main location on Amnicola, and then our Foxwood Food Center over off of Wilcox Boulevard.

The scale of our work, um 38% of all of the impact we have is within Hamilton County.

And when I say all of the impact, we're talking about over 20 million pounds of food is aggregated and distributed across our 20 county service area each year.

Um spides moving on me.

I feel like they're moving on me here.

Hold on here.

Go back here.

Umteen million meals, so that equates our 20 million pounds of food is about 17 million meals provided to the 180,000 of our neighbors who may experience food insecurity on any given day.

It is moving on its own.

I'm not losing my mind.

Okay, and then other programs we you guys are probably very familiar with is our SACPAC program working with our local schools.

And then our tractor trailers, our trucks make deliveries across our community, where transportation is a barrier for a lot of our food pantry partners.

Bringing the scale down locally to Chattanooga, we have about a hundred feeding programs across this county.

Twenty-four of them are publicly accessible, so meaning to Chattanooga neighbors can walk in the door and get services within the city of Chattanooga.

And we also operate mobile distribution pantries, schools like Eastside, Clifton Hills, etc.

We're bringing food to those communities.

And then we also oversee our Foxwood Food Center, which is our largest food pantry, and it's a grocery store model where Chattanooga neighbor can come in once a month and get food.

We'll talk a little bit more about that.

So what's happening currently with the administration, the disruption of SNAP benefits for us here locally, about 10,000 of our households rely on SNAP.

So think about SNAP as the first safety net for families experiencing food insecurity.

It's a public benefit, often known as food stamps.

And then the food banks and our food pantries are the last safety net.

Those benefits became disrupted on November the 1st.

Each day of November, more and more of our Chattanooga families will not have their benefit card reloaded.

So that has put an immediate strain on our families, most of who are already incredibly household strained budgets, as you guys know.

For every meal that Chudenagari Food Bank provides, and I mentioned that earlier, that's you know, over 15 million meals.

SNAP benefits provide nine.

It gives our neighbors the opportunity to go in the stores and to provide and to get the food they want when they need with that SNAP benefit car.

So I mean, in context, the food bank would need to do nine times more than what we're already doing to meet the gap created by this disruption in SNAP.

So we are doing October 20th.

We mobilized our emergency response plan, meaning that means we are in full mobilization of emergency scale, bringing more food into the warehouses, expanding our operations, expanding our distribution hours at our pantries, expanding our shifts at our warehouses across our for our volunteers as well.

What that means at Foxwood, which is where over 4,000 Chattanooga neighbors a month get access to food.

Starting yesterday, we expanded to uh six o'clock at night.

Okay.

So families could meet could meet that bigger shift there.

Which means we have a lot more volunteers coming in to sort and uh pack food and to help us uh stock shelves, and we've expanded our staff with additional drivers and operations folks.

Um we're also further supporting our partners.

So think about the other community partners that often do food that you think about, um, the Bethlehem Center, Salvation Army, many of our community partners across our footprint.

We are lifting them up as well, and I'll talk a little bit more about that.

Um, we're waiving their delivery fees, we're offering more food online.

Most people think the food bank they think donations of food, only 20% of our inventory is donated.

So we high we highly rely on government food programs like the program, and then we'll spend about five million dollars purchasing truckloads of peanut butter and cereal and staple goods that our families need.

And just to clarify, the donated food.

I mean, really, a cash donation goes further than a don than a dollar of the donated food, right?

Yes.

Okay.

Yes.

So you could go out to the store and retail and buy a jar of peanut butter.

Our truck's gonna buy a truckload, and we may be able to buy two jars of peanut butter or three jars of peanut butter.

So not only are we expanding our operations to reach the families directly at our pantry programs and our mobile pantries, we're also supporting our community partners by helping them expand their hours, their days of operations, whatever they need to be able to meet the longer lines at their locations.

So here's one quick snapshot.

This is just yesterday, just at Foxwood.

Last year on November 4th, we served 246 families.

Yesterday we had a 33% increase.

That was the first day we've been open since the SNAP interruption.

So we can see pretty quickly the number of children who are now being served, 52% increase from last year, which is direct correlation to those families with children not having access to that to SNAP.

So I want you to know we are responding now.

We've responded quickly.

We're we are built for moments of crisis like this, just like we were in the pandemic, but there will be a ripple effect no matter if those restored SNAP benefits are brought back today, which the government is now saying could be weeks or even months before the federal government can get this emergency funds down to the state levels for them to reload those cards.

So it could be a long time.

We're not expecting that to be soon, and when it does, there's only about 50% of the funding needed to reload these snap cards for our food insecure families.

So this is a long game for us.

We're here, we're here today to serve your communities or your constituents.

We understand this ripple effect will play for these family budgets for months to come.

For us, particularly, our USDA or commodities federal nutrition program.

All of the food that was should have been ordered and uh planned for in October when the shutdown happened has not been planned for or ordered.

So that means we at the food bank will see that disruption of food January, February, March.

So the longer the government shuts stays shut down, the more disruption on the supply chain for us as well.

Um and then the economic perspective, working closely with our grocery store retail partners because all these uh grocery stores heavily rely on SNAP, in particular in low-income areas or rural areas.

So there's a huge economic impact as well that's happening.

Um asked me yesterday, like what would it take to just close the gap for what's what SNAP has created.

Our food bank spends over a million dollars every single month to meet the need of our neighbors in our community.

We would need to multiply that by nine.

So ten our 12 million dollar annual budget would become 120 million.

So while we are well equipped to respond to crisis and to meet the need, we cannot bridge the gap that SNAP's created.

We can uphold this community in the few few weeks and months ahead of us to make sure those who need food have food.

Um, but it is a big challenge in our community today.

So I don't want to uh I don't want to minimize this.

This is as catastrophic for us as it was in the pandemic.

So final slide here is just what we've asked our community to do is to stand with us, use your voice if you know someone that needs food.

Our find food app on our website is is iterative, it can geo-target neighbors where they are.

Um, it's constantly being updated with um expanded hours and locations as we find those places to do more.

We need volunteers, 6,500 volunteers every year.

We probably need 9,000 today if we keep on at this.

Um, and then as uh chairwoman Hill mentioned, um, people can give every dollar counts.

So that is me in the really fast 302 mode.

Thank you.

Council, what questions do we have?

Does anybody have any questions?

Councilman Alley.

Um, Council, I don't know about you all, and I've talked about before.

I don't nobody knows what this is gonna look like these next coming weeks.

I would like to see if folks are interested in us working with administration to find funds to sit aside in the event that this prolongs more than anybody's ready for, and we can't fill anybody's complete stop gap.

Uh we can't we can't fill that hole, but we can alleviate some of it, and I don't think we really need to give right now.

But I'll be open to those finding funds to sit aside in case a worst-case scenario comes about, and we need to kind of help fill that hole for folks.

So the food bank or whoever else our partners out there are just completely struggling and until some of those benefits click on.

I don't know how anybody else feels about that.

Also give a shout-out on this topic.

Uh Billy Rivera's a really great um map that gave me a lot of perspective on some of the realities of SNAP in my community.

Um, so thank you, sir, for that.

I really appreciate it.

So I'm gonna throw that out there.

I don't know how anybody else feels about it, but I think we should really look into it.

Councilman Dotley.

Thank you so much.

And uh thank you, Melissa, for your work and Lori and Corey uh for uh the response because I uh got your email the other day, and I asked, you know, when you asked we have district level stuff, and you sent it right away.

Um, but just as one of your food partners uh in my other job, I just appreciate what you are doing.

Um just so y'all know the food bank had a call to action.

What was it third Wednesday?

Last Wednesday was roughly almost a hundred people on the call organizations trying to figure out what can we do collectively together.

So I'm on board with Councilman Elliott to see how we can support, you know, what we're doing.

I guess first finding out from either Ellis or Chris or whatever, what the administration already has lined up, and then we can rewrite it out from there because they definitely need the support.

And uh and I appreciate you providing the data so we can better understand how this is impacting our community.

I was out on the west side uh last Friday or Thursday, whatever day.

And um, so far they had counted 180 individuals just in that pocket that were uh gonna be going through it.

So the food bank had already delivered to them and they had already started giving the food out.

So that's how fast you all have reacted.

So I just I just want to say thank you because I've been working with you all for a long time.

Um, and so I just really appreciate the work that you're doing, and then whatever we can do, uh Councilman Elliott, you know, I ride with you on that because food shelter and clothing are basic things, and there's no reason that a country this wealthy should have people suffering like this, you know, especially people with kids, because the only way you have a nation if you have people in it, and the people in it need to have children.

I don't have any, but for the those who do have the children, we need to make sure that we are supporting them as best as we can.

Um to give you quick context, we have already committed a half million up to a half million dollars already this month.

Okay, so that is I mean, we're we're in it, we're shaking the trees, we're working with the the city and state governments across the lines, and then local governments within each of those counties.

Um we don't want we don't want anybody going hungry, we will do as much as we can in partnership with whoever we can to make sure that the needs of our community is met.

Right.

So, yeah, thank you so much, madam chair.

Thank you, Councilman Iliad, for that recommendation.

Uh, thank you, uh Chairman.

This might be a question for you, you may have some insight on what is already in the works about this.

And I I also want to point out to my colleagues that I'm not sure how long ago, but the county pulled all of their funding uh to the Chattering Area Food Bank.

Is that correct?

They did, and it was restored.

And it was restored when when was it restored?

This year.

Okay, this year, okay, gotcha.

Thank you.

So you're welcome.

But as far as for the city, are we currently involved in some type of and this is for educational?

Are you we have funding for yes?

We are currently in, I think a three year one is true.

The third year of a three-year contract.

Did they do the county restore back at full capacity what they were doing?

Or was it a lower level?

I believe it was the same.

Yes.

Okay, gotcha.

Thank you for asking.

No words.

I just I just want to be on the record as far as like by bringing this to this body, like what can we do?

I'm a lot of us already.

We I tell people food security has been issues well before this became a political issue.

So our churches have been already stepping up, and what we what I want to know, uh, Chairwoman Hill is like what is in the works and what do we need to do?

Thank you for the presentation.

Thank you for the data.

I don't see a lot of as I'm looking at food and security rates and the food and secure population.

I actually don't see my zip codes on there.

Um, and so that lets me know that maybe my district can lean in more.

You know what I mean?

So, what again?

Thank you for the presentation, but what do we need to do from a fiduciary perspective and collaboration with the mayor's office?

Maybe we need to dip into the rainy day fund.

I don't know.

Um, this feels like a rainy day to me until this government opens back up.

I was looking for and then yeah, so that's it.

Something that that I'd like to add to the the question of what is our plan for how we move forward.

I mean, acknowledging that the people of the United States of America have paid for these SNAP benefits from our taxes, right?

So we have we have all contributed to this.

Um, and my hope would be that if if cities, states front the money, organizations front the money that there would be some kind of reimbursement.

Reimbursement, yeah.

But but something that stands out to me is something that we have a lot of in the city of Chattanooga is employees, and might our employees be able to be deployed at certain times to be the additional hands and feet that this food bank might need, right?

Because we I mean we obviously we may be able to provide some financial assistance, but nine million dollars a month is something that none of us have budgeted for, right?

Um and so how might we all have that lows and fitness moment if part of that is that our staff we rotate through and everybody you know does some shifts there, um, and you know we're still paying our staff to do that.

That's something I'd like us to explore.

But I know Darren and the mayor's office have been chatting, so we have thank you.

Um Madam uh Madam Chair, because one of the reasons that uh is here is today because of the meeting we had with um food bank yesterday, and we were very excited that you came to us, and obviously the mayor shares his concern, obviously, tracking this very unfortunate situation.

So that's why they are here today is to take the temperature of council so that we can work forward collaboratory.

Okay, okay.

So let's just stay in touch then.

But is it a is it an ask like a particular amount?

Like look, can we not be specific and what whether you're can we have that conversation?

Sure.

Okay, yeah.

Out of the public we're saying, like not here.

Well, we know that we know that they would need to exactly at this particular second, yeah, when we're talking about a dollar amount, it would look like an opportunity to look into and see what uh options we have, and actually yours option that you suggested was not all.

Well, because time is of the essence, and so I'm thinking you don't meet next week.

And we don't meet next week.

And so if there's something that we need to lean in on, I suggest you all put in an official ask so it can be considered at the appropriate time when we're in council.

My recommendation, madam chair.

I I think the mayor's office is looking at the timing closely.

We're working very closely with the food bank.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you all so much for your time and consideration on these matters.

We appreciate you coming out and doing the work that you do and sharing with us, Melissa.

Thank you all.

And thank you again to Codes Enforcement.

Um everybody's still here to be able to answer questions.

I know we had a couple off lines that we needed to have answers.

See you all in 20 minutes.

Thank you.

Corey.

We are adjourned.