Well, I don't know where the page.

Oh, here we go.

Welcome everybody to the 1 p.m.

Uh Wednesday budget meeting.

Um item number one call to order.

I called us meeting to order.

Two discussion with representatives from code enforcement regarding the proposed FY2026 2027 budget and capital plan.

Come on to the table.

Welcome, welcome.

All right.

Uh good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Uh James Wagner, I'm the director of the planning and neighborhoods department.

Brent Richard Manager for Code Enforcement.

Um so uh we have prepared a presentation for you all to kind of walk through uh some of the uh budget presentation you see that you had from last week from the mayor.

Um so if it's okay to me, we'll proceed to that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Let's go.

And uh start us off and then I'm gonna uh take take the so basically you know, obviously the overall uh overview today is you know to cover the mayor council retreat priorities, uh discuss some goals and some new approaches for code enforcement.

We'll go over some data case or case load for the backlog, discuss some more effective processes and adding some additional and adding those additional resources to how how we'll allow us to obtain and get to those goals, and then how we plan to monitor our performance.

Um as y'all know, because y'all were all present with us with the mayor council retreat.

Nicely, Sarah Laminated.

Uh oh I don't I don't personally do the lamination.

Okay, well we have experts in our okay, okay.

I was giving you all the credits.

Yeah, um, but uh obviously code enforcement was up on the board, mentioned numerous times, and obviously the big focus was our long wait times uh and addressing and getting to a proactive enforcement level.

So the overall goal that was mentioned by the mayor was to eliminate the code enforcement backlog.

Uh also integrating some some things we've already started doing, but also some early communication prior to formal mail notices, and then a very strong two customer approach for getting to voluntary compliance.

So 2018 is when we had the software we have now, so that's as far as as far as when we went back on data.

Um as you can see from 2018 till the end of last year we had a 56% increase in our case volume.

Um so right now we average from the last three or four years 17 to 18,000 cases per year that we work or handle or touch in some form or fashion.

Of those, as y'all know, we prioritize every case that comes in, priority one and priority two, are usually handled within a week uh at the very latest, priority three, which is the bulk of what we get, about 82% for what most of y'all hear about because those are the ones that are in the backlog so long, take us longer to get there.

That's your track, your typical trash joke and debris, tall grass and weeds in operable vehicles.

We're gonna have a wrap song by the end of the year about tall grass, junk and debris.

I know I'll say that so fast.

I've said this over time a lot.

Yeah, yard parking.

Yeah, we call them yard for so you know.

So the other focus we looked at was you know how to eliminate the backlog.

So we started tracking it earlier this year.

Um I started reporting to James back in May, what the backlog looked at like.

So May of last year we were around 1500 cases.

It peaks usually during the middle of the growing season to around three to three 3500, and as you can see, starts coming back down.

Uh currently we're at like 1640, so that goes right in stride with last year in May.

That's what you're at now.

It's 1640.

1641.

Yeah.

Those are just the reported ones.

What's that?

I'm sorry.

Those are just the reporting.

Yes, those are just the ones that come through 3101 and report.

Yes.

So I'll kind of shift here and um from kind of looking uh to what the current situation is to what we're working on now to really kind of take uh two different approaches.

Uh one is to uh really look at our process and uh make our process as effective as we possibly can, and two is uh to look at the resources, the human resources we have to uh be able to accomplish uh elimination of that backlog.

Um so um I'm sorry, no, I'm waving it earlier.

Okay, it's you.

Okay.

Um so uh I have a couple slides here that really focus on what we're trying to do to uh focus on two customers.

If we think about code enforcement, and you know the way we've traditionally thought about it as kind of the customer is the complaint, the person who is calling in and making, you know, saying there's an issue in my neighborhood.

And so we're kind of expanding that thinking and to thinking of that as one customer, but the other actual customer, even though it seems like an odd term to use, is the property owner who has the violation.

And the reason for that is that there is so much more value in getting the res getting resolution on the issue if the property owner will engage.

And so we've seen some early success with this new approach.

But essentially it's it kind of comes down to how do we communicate really effectively with the property owner.

Sometimes it's hard to do, but if we can and we can get that issue resolved as quickly as possible, it really saves a lot of time in the back end.

And I have a slide in just a minute that demonstrates how much time it really saves if we can get that compliance early.

We also have some a few things that we're doing to uh enact this two customer approach.

One of them, uh, which is uh almost ready, coming soon, is what we're calling the voluntary compliance toolkit.

Brant has been working with communications on essentially a one-pager and a and a website that directs uh property owners to some resources.

Uh, so things like dump passes and the um uh or a dump uh you know roll off dumpster if that's what's needed to get things cleaned up, those kinds of things, some like time, give more time for the owner to comply with with uh with the with the violation.

Um we're also working on so anyway, that's coming soon, uh, and also that will be something that we'll be uh putting out in some postcards that we're gonna be sending out, which I'll talk about in just a minute.

Uh, early communication with property owners is the second thing.

So we're gonna start sending out postcards, which I'll talk more about, uh text messages when we get a complaint, and I'll show you in a minute why that's an important uh way to get a hold of that owner sooner, and then even phone calls from uh from our code enforcement officers just to make sure that that we're connecting with that owner in a way that they know that what they need to do to comply.

Um we're also looking at a work or we have created a work order information sheet that kind of gives the owner the uh an idea of what the what types of things that we could do a work order on if they're not resolved, and that just is can to communicate to them here's what needs basically here's what needs to happen.

Here's what needs to happen to get this property back into compliance.

On our program that we're now calling the uh dilapidated structures program, formerly I think people knew it as the demolition program.

Uh, we are uh really trying to make sure we're connecting owners with people who can develop those, redevelop those properties rather than uh really just using the only enforcement tool we have really is the demolition, we don't want that if we can avoid it.

And if the property is you know, to the point that it can be rehab, we don't want demolish property.

So we have an early success story on that of a property that is going to be demolished, but we've got an owner and a and someone who's gonna develop it, um, and so we're really hopeful that that can that can continue, that that trend can continue.

Um then really just to create a customer feedback loop, making monthly calls to the to people who have had abatements.

So these are people who owners who have had a notice and then they haven't, you know, uh you know complied, and so we've had to do a work order and then abate the property, trying to understand like did you know what you needed to do?

Did you get notifications just to try to make sure that we are uh closing the loop on that on that customer approach, thinking about that owner as the customer, and then improving our processes as a result of it.

So if we hear I didn't get the notice, and well then why not?

You know, what did we have the wrong number?

Did we send it to the wrong address?

You know, that kind of thing, um, just to make sure that that owner is getting the communication that they need.

Um, now this next slide is quite a bit, but I'm gonna try to walk through uh a contrast of what we do now, the current process to what we're planning on doing with some of the resources that are being provided in uh this proposed budget.

So, right now, as you know, there's a complaint that comes in uh by the resident, and as Brandt said, you know, that case that case backlog gets to 3,000 plus cases in the summertime.

That really leads to a long wait time between the time that complaint comes in and the and the time the code inspector even gets there, up to 90 days with the long time.

And that is frustrating for a lot of people.

I think we all know that.

Um so then the code officer gets there, and there either is it is a violation or there's not.

If there is a violation, then it goes through this process of uh notice mailed to the property owners, property owner, and then a reinspection 10 days later.

And then if they're compliant after that reinspection, then the case is closed.

So that's a pretty relatively uh effective and efficient process.

But if it's not compliant, then we have to do an abatement work order, the contractor has to be sent there, then we have to send the owner an invoice, and if the invoice isn't paid, then a lien is filed, and then you know that lien then goes with the property until until it's uh rectified.

Um of course we don't have to follow those steps in the red if the owner is in compliance, so that saves us some time.

What we're uh talking about doing now is adding a couple of notification steps early in the process.

And so kind of looking at that process is we get a complaint from the resident.

We we know the address of that owner.

We may or may not know a phone number where they can be reached, but we at least know the address.

And we can send them a postcard.

The postcard will have to say something like you know, uh, a violation has been reported, it hasn't been verified, but it's just it's kind of a heads up or courtesy notification that there could be this property, and of course, this is more relevant to a property that is uh a vacant property, which is where we see a lot of our our nuisance uh issues.

So the owner's gonna get a postcard.

It still may be a period of time before an inspector gets there, but at least they have a heads up to something may be not right at that point.

Maybe the grass is too tall, maybe the there was a mattress in the art, something like that.

And then we're working on also a system that this will be a little more complicated to implement, but a system to where we can notify people by via text message if there's a complaint.

Again, not verified, but we can do that quickly.

We can do it like the next day or the next couple days after a complaint has been received, even before we can send someone out to the property just to give them a heads up.

The advantage here is a huge advantage, and that is that so we have about a 68% voluntary compliance rate when people know that there's a there's a by that there's a problem.

So I'm not saying necessarily that 68% of the people that are notified in this this way will comply, but even if 50% of them do, then by the time the inspector gets there, they'll look at the property and say, it looks like everything is fine, case closed, and then you can avoid everything down in that red box down below.

So it could potentially make the process a lot more effective just by notifying that res that owner, the property owner, earlier in the in the in the process.

Now, still, if there's not compliance with that postcard, if you know it's not received, or if the owner doesn't comply, we'll still have to go through our normal process.

Inspector will have to go out, we'll have to inspect, we'll have to send a mail notice, we'll have to go and re-inspect, and and then all those same steps from before.

But if we can just get communication early, the theory, kind of the theory of change here is that we can get better compliance and better results, um, and um uh just a more effective use of our of our code enforcement officers' time.

So uh early communication is the key on that.

Um, this is what an example of a postcard would look like or a text message.

Um may not be this exact language, but you know, something to the effect of there's uh this is not a verified code violation, but a courtesy notice so that you can visit the property before it's set it's uh is scheduled for inspection.

So again, just a heads up and a really pretty inexpensive and easy way to do that, um, and then a text message saying something similar to that.

So that's the process part.

Um, in addition to that, in this proposed budget is uh some new positions, um, and uh one of those will be an office administrator, so there will need to be someone uh kind of in the office making sure that early notification process happens, and there'll be some work on the front end to get that text messaging system set up.

Uh, and in addition to that, three additional code inspectors, uh, and then by adding that office administrator, we actually also can take someone who's currently a uh trained code inspector who is in the office doing administrative work and put them back out in the field.

So, really the net effect is four code enforcement officers back out in the field, three new ones and one that's in the office that we can send out to the field.

Uh we also have uh have some additional abatement costs that have been built into the budget because we know that you know if you have more inspections, you're likely to have more abatements, and frankly, we always kind of run dry on our abatement uh funds toward the end of the year anyway, so I think that's needed.

Um, and then of course the cost for the uh text messaging and the uh postage uh to send all those postcards out every yeah.

Um so uh this is a simulation.

This is my last slide, and then we'll uh use entertainment discussion.

What we did here is we um took last year's backlog, so this started at the same uh point that Brant talked about earlier.

1463 was the backlog at that time, and what we did is we applied the resources of these three code inspectors back into the field to that backlog just to kind of simulate what it would look like for that uh backlog to be drawn down over the summer.

So uh in this case we got it, it's down to like 99, but as I said before, it's this was simulated based on three code enforcement officers.

We really have four because the office administrator will allow someone to go back out in the case.

So we think that this will make a huge impact on our backlog and um and uh and and make a difference in terms of people getting resolution to the issues that they're having in their neighborhoods a lot quicker and a lot more efficiently.

So that's really what we have.

Pretty brief, but um glad to take questions.

Okay, um, I have counselor Bengal and then Archie.

Thank you guys.

Um I guess I have a quick question, a couple of them actually.

Um I notice on your multifamily housing, you're going down by a number of three.

So actually, that is a uh it's a typo in the in the budget.

So that group is a section in the in the department that got reorganized last year.

So this it says multifamily housing here, but that's actually the performance and accountability group um within the planning and neighborhoods department.

Uh we are eliminating three positions in that group, but I don't know why it didn't get updated, but this is it's uh it's not labeled correctly.

The multifamily housing group is actually in code enforcement.

Okay, yeah, so it's not reduced.

Okay, good.

Yeah, all right, because that's what it says here.

Uh, because I thought, oh, is this how they're paying for the four individuals?

No.

Um that's right.

Um so obviously, because we're a complaint-based system, right?

This is how you end up with a lot of the backlog.

Some of the cases, like one that we're talking about that's ongoing right now, like the uh class A mobile home was parked in a yard.

Um, these are the things that perpetually go on and on and on, and I get calls all the time from and it's more often than not at seniors that you know are elevate about specific things like parking on the grass, right?

And things of that nature, or um when uh a code enforcement officer who's working that case and they go out in the field and they don't see the violation at that time because a lot of this is J parking, parking in the yards.

Obviously, when the inspector is getting out there, they're going out there during normal business hours, close the case.

Next thing you know, I'm getting an ear full about this case got closed.

Um we figuring out a way when we're talking about communicating how we can not necessarily close the case if we don't see the violation up front, maybe that violation occurs during a certain time period and and get communication in that way.

Um because oftentimes I'll open a case, and then my case I'll get closed to a duplicate case or a nuisance case that's already pre-existing that's got some age to it.

Um, how are we really working through these nuisance cases that have some age on them?

So, one of the things I'll mention is we already do, like for example, a yard car, I'll use that as an isolated example.

Uh if we show up and there's been a reported of a of a car parked on the grass and we don't see it, we don't close it immediately.

We try to go back to subsequent times to check it at different times by adding some staff and working on the backlog.

I think it'll give the freedom to the inspectors to have then that proactiveness to reach out to the complainant and say, Well, what's the best time to catch this there?

So we can schedule that that that at that time, as well as you know, if these come into play in July, by our goal is by next July to have little to no backlog.

So then when you're there, they naturally they they've got this overwhelming backlog on their back, so they're trying to work the cases as fast as they can, but then that gives them the freedom to explore cases that are problematic a little further a little longer.

So I think that's a very very easy goal to hit.

So one other thing, uh, and this is really this is an idea Brant had uh this winter, and and that was uh taking a lot of our older cases and having some of our code enforcement officers call the complaint or contact the complaintants to find out if the case if the issue was still there because you know, rather than like having someone you know drive to every you know place that the complaint can say, Oh, yeah, that got taken care of, then we can close that case in a more efficient way with the complainant you know, saying, you know, that's no longer no longer an issue.

So uh we did work through some of the backlog that way over the winter time, and we're still doing it.

Yeah, so and when that person, and right now it's that it's the trained inspector doing those phone calls, so that would move to administrator that would do that.

Office administrator, right?

Uh, one of the things we've trained that officer to do that person to do is when they call and the complaint says, Yes, I can still see the tall grass.

Let's define where it's at.

Is it in the backyard?

Is it in the front yard?

Because sometimes what they give 311 just is there's tall grass at least.

It comes down and it's in the backyard, and we need to we need to see it from a different angle.

So we we basically beef up our description so that when the code officer gets out there, he has a better grasp where he or she has a better grasp of what to look for.

Okay, so I'm a big advocate of the 311 app.

And most often it's because you can take the picture, you can submit your complaint immediately.

I think you have a box, if I remember correctly, that you can stay anonymous.

Yeah.

But you don't get that information.

We don't give that information anyway.

But I thought there was a box on there that said Do you want to remain anonymous or something of that nature?

Because I want people to be self-served and use that application instead of sitting on the phone and then being mad because there was a there was loss of translation between what a person reported and how a case got entered or however that works.

I want to drive people to that app and use that app because of its convenience.

So are we still working like if it is a little more active, so if I report a case, I can see my case.

But if my case gets closed out and close to a different case, how do I go look to that?

That's we we have a new dashboard that's gonna be going live very soon as well.

Same with the voluntary compliance check uh toolkit, that it's a live dashboard of all the cases.

So not only can you look at the case like and the reverse of this is well, you're you're working me for having my yard car parking yard and all those five yards have it too.

Well, they can look at a map and see their surrounding area, what cases are open or have recently been closed.

So if the case is closed, it'll stay live on that dashboard for 30 days.

And the citizens will be able to see that instead of having to search by a specific address, you can search by an area and kind of get a populated map that has lots of information about and that'll that'll that's live.

That's active.

That's I said that's live.

It will be updated on a live basis.

So every night when the system back uh backs up, it'll update that map.

So you've not only got an address specific way to look up a case, you've also got because they can look up the case and they can see theirs was closed, but one of one is still open, so they can correlate the two, but it'll also be documented.

Yeah, that's the challenge is if my case got closed, it doesn't report back and go this is the case.

No, they have to you have to physically go look at it to see there's another.

And that's the challenge.

I think when most people see that and they'll see the case is closed, they don't know what case is actually being actively pursued on that specific complaint.

So I want people to use that because it saves resources of having, of course.

Our 311 uh folks having to be called because I could be dealing with other stuff, but um are we still working on making sure that app is as efficient as it can be and user-friendly as it can be?

Yeah, I'm I've got some.

Because I can have issues sometimes even with putting an address in.

Right.

So I've even had some feedback of when my case gets closed.

Uh it doesn't tell me which case got closed, right?

Which address because we get people that report multiple, right?

You know, maybe a neighborhood association present or something like that.

Uh, I know 311's working with the vendor to get that link fixed because it's not something they can fix in-house.

So we're constantly getting feedback from citizens and letting 311 staff know.

So they're on that case.

311.

And also my operator of the could be a device area, yeah.

But true.

And who's putting the information?

If you report a case and then it gets closed in the app, all the app tells you is your case was closed by a case number.

It doesn't tell you which address.

So if I've reported a hundred of them, I don't know which one of my hundred got closed.

Exactly.

So having an address type to it in that reply would be great.

Variant's working on that with three one.

So all right.

Are you done, counselor?

Mm-hmm.

All right.

Counselor?

Um, I have two questions.

You only get one.

Well, if you only have so a part A and part B then maybe you said this already.

The uh postcards that are sent out, are they sent to the address where the potential issue is or to the owner of the property, I think about like uh someone they're a renter, and uh you know, if they don't own the property, maybe they will be the one cleaning up the trash chuck and debris or whatever it is, but ultimately I mean, obviously the owner would need to know what we have to pay.

But who do you send it to?

Yeah, so um obviously we gotta work through the details.

There'll be some manual process of that postcard process plus some automated uh the automated side should help us guide if if the reporting address and the address from the assessors page is the same, then we send one postcard.

If they're separate, then we send two.

Okay, so we would send, but sometimes a landlord may have their property registered to that property, so we don't know how to find the landlord.

So those are the obscure times we wouldn't be able to do that.

But for the most part, most landlords have the address, and the assessors page has their business address or their home address, and we would be able to send two postcards.

Oh, good.

Um the I appreciate the updates on the app because sometimes I feel like I'm the 311 for some of my residents, which is fine.

Uh definitely love to hear from them.

Uh so continue on calling me uh any time of day.

Uh but and maybe you talked about this and I I missed it.

Is there a page where I could go on and see in my district how many complaints or have the so the dashboard I mentioned while ago when it goes live, you'll be able to turn on a layer that shows all the districts.

So the dashboard I mentioned will go when it goes live, you'll be able to turn on a layer that shows all the districts.

Okay.

So you'll be able to turn on your district and focus in on your district to see how many are within your district.

Okay.

It's actually a map, it's a map.

It's a map.

So it's a dashboard map.

So we are looking at, and it's a real easy add of adding also the uh a layer that would show the neighborhood associations because we have all that.

So if you were had a neighborhood association that wanted to know how many complaints were in their area, it would then and we can search that do an open reference request too, but this would be a visual assistance to that.

So Harper Um I'm an ad 311 user as well.

I literally drive around the community making complaints.

But um, I do the same.

I mean you're proactive for well, just like I thought I owned all the yard parking.

I found out at the last meeting conversation, you own it too.

The what?

Oh, we won't exist.

Yeah, that's a move.

Um, but uh we're to your point, you know, driving people there, but we're not going to not allow people to call the energy.

Oh no, yeah.

No, yeah, you can always email call or do you have a lot of things?

No, that we didn't.

I get what he was saying, we want to make sure we're driving people, and I agree, but yeah, my parents are just in each.

So we won't be able to do that.

Matter of fact, five hundred five out of six, twenty six hundred still works.

The old mayor's actually four rings we want to still work.

Yeah, gotta maintain that.

So, yeah, that that's I just because I know a lot of things I'll only so technical and I get it, but we still have people they can't.

My mom has my mom has a cell phone, but that's all she knows how to do is make a flip phone.

Yeah, yeah.

So no texting, none of that.

So that's all we need to just make sure that's all our uh elder population because my community that's normally who's making those complaints because they sit in the home sit on the porches and we say bank that they are right.

Okay, hold on.

I'll put you back in the queue.

That's from me.

That's home.

I won't counsel you, cancel you yet.

Um are you done, Council?

Okay.

Uh counselor Dutton.

So um I want to go back to the multifamily housing that you said that removed the three.

Yeah.

Are those the uh dedicated apartment inspectors?

Yeah, so um just a bit of clarification.

That that that word multifamily housing on that page should actually say office of performance and accountability.

Um it is uh so and this is behind the scenes in the budget.

We have like sections of the department, and this section is one that we uh reused when we reorganized last year.

Okay, and so um it uh the numbering of it is the same as what we used to use for multi-family housing, but now that group is it's called performance and accountability.

So the group that you're thinking of the as a multifamily housing group has not been changed at all.

Um is within code enforcement, and it's the same staffing level as it was before.

We did eliminate three vacant positions in the performance and accountability group, but no eliminations on the multifamily housing group.

So it's still two uh it's with coasts.

It's four four co-masters and two fire marshals for apartments, that's right.

Yes, yeah.

I guess I'm gonna know that.

And I know that I also had a question.

Uh we had talked about this.

So it was my understanding that uh there were some vacant positions that had not been filled, and that's not going to affect the additional four that we're looking at adding the code.

That's that correct.

Um so yeah, there's an additional three inspectors and an office figure we talked about.

Um we we there are some vacant positions that are listed down below that we've eliminated.

One of those does say neighborhood inspector, and so um the uh background on that is we initially had asked for a supervisor position as part of our proposal between the time that we asked for that supervisor position and now uh we actually had two positions that were eliminated, but they weren't code enforcement officers that were doing regular code enforcement work.

They were it was a contract we had in the Tulsa Housing Authority, and the Tulsa Housing Authority was basically paying us to inspect some of their properties.

They decided to no longer contract with the city to do that.

So those positions, those two positions were eliminated because we didn't have the you know, those were not general fund positions anyway.

And so we when we'd asked for the supervisor to go along with this proposal, we initially thought we would need that, but when we had those two less positions, we said that we decided we didn't need that anymore.

So what we're talking about now is uh essentially um instead of having that supervisor, which was originally proposed in the budget, uh potentially adding back this neighborhood inspector that's listed here, um, so that we're not taking a step backward in terms of code enforcement capacity.

Okay, so how many code enforcement officers do we have total right now?

I think we have 29, yeah.

Actually, 28 that includes including this position here that's quite frozen.

Yes, and those but those positions are all filled.

Uh I've got a couple vacancies that just got posted.

I mean, like I have I had one position moved last week, and one position was eliminated that terminated last week.

Okay, so those are brand new positions, so the vacancies they're still internal, they're less than a week old.

Right, yeah.

So really 27 filled physical bodies right now.

So yes, of course that includes supervisors as well, and everything.

So yeah, that's what I wanted the clarification of.

And it includes that multi-family group.

Right, right, right, right.

Okay, thank you.

Yes, Councilor Bangle.

Thank you.

Um actually triggered a question in my mind.

We're talking about vacant properties, cloud titles, all these different things where you probably won't remember this, but probably about four houses down from me, there was a uh renter who either was evicted or for whatever reason vacated the property, had never mowed the lawn.

Uh do you remember this?

Yeah, yeah, they just took everything and just threw it out there in the street, basically, for everybody to deal with, and it took several.

So that property owner actually lived in Sarasota, Florida, if I remember correctly.

So when you have um where like in different portions of the city where you have people constantly texting, wanting to buy properties, right?

Some of these folks don't even live in our communities, um, and they're renting to these type of renters who are not maintaining the property, and those people are out of the state, out of the city.

How big a challenge is it to deal with those folks?

Is that elongate the process?

Um, so when you have an absentee landlord that just won't communicate with it, it obviously becomes very difficult.

So but many times they'll reach out to us and ask for your local resources or say, you know, I'm tired of this property, I want to sell it.

So we have an active investors list that we offer to people not only from our collaborative infrastructures program, but as well as just any vacant property uh that we may want to introduce a new local buyer to them.

Um but yeah, I mean, obviously the hardest challenge is when they don't respond to us at all, and we don't know how to get a hold of them in any form or fashion.

So that kind of leads to the back to my question.

Does us not give us the lever to kind of accelerate a batement?

Um I mean, really, the only thing it would allow us to do is I mean the voluntary program we're working on is if you have a local customer of ours, right?

You know, we're gonna work with him.

Right.

Obviously, if we have an absentee landlord, it just goes through the normal process, which we're gonna we're gonna process as fast as we can.

10-day wait on the notice as soon as we can get it scheduled to a work order, and then our work orders are scheduled to our contractor by geographic location.

So it may be an extra couple of days to get Eastside done because we're in West Side Monday, we're coming to Eastside Thursday and Friday.

So yeah, so that doesn't that doesn't slow us up at all.

You know, we can't accelerate it any faster than what we have on ordinance because it matches state law.

So 10-day notice is reinvading.

Yeah, now the summary abatement, once they've become a violator once and they don't change their during that two-year period.

That 10-day period goes away and we immediately go to work order.

Right.

So okay.

Yeah, I would just when that kind of stuff happens, you're like, oh my gosh, and this person, this property on it.

It took us like two weeks.

Yeah, and I heard about it every day that I get when I pulled up in the driveway every day.

Somebody was coming down.

So that's kind of the challenge when you have those type of scenarios.

And I doubt that's a one-off.

Yeah, I might add something else Brandon has done.

He's always thinking of innovative ideas, and uh another thing Brent has done recently is in our uh code case system for the code inspectors use.

If we have contact information for the owner, you know, a phone number, an email, he's made it so that where that information is posted at the top of the property record so that the code inspector has a way to contact them, and that is just an easier way because it's it was always kind of buried in the notes, but just making it easier for that code inspector to find that information to maybe just give that person a call and say, Hey, I know you're in Sarasota, Florida, but you know there's a huge issue with this property, you know, you need to get it taken care of, and sometimes like that is a more effective way than sending something into mail, right?

Um so yeah.

Um so if you get all this done, I think going from a 45-day window down to a 30-day or less window.

I think that will certainly please a lot of citizens.

So that's our goal.

Yeah.

And that interactive map will definitely be helpful.

Yes.

Counselor Bowser.

Thank you.

Trying to track with somewhere in the comment we brought up 311.

Are we fixing the issues with 31?

We have several times where folks call and it doesn't work or they lose it.

I mean, there's I've got lots of documentation in 311 not working.

Yeah.

I think I mean Brandt does address a little bit the issue of you know when uh people are are calling in and then their cases, you know, it basically gets handed off to our system, right?

And so really I think one thing that will be helpful is having this mapped that people can go and look to verify that the case that they reported, they can look on a map and see, okay, because if it's on that map, that means it's gonna hand it off to code enforcement.

Right.

And that really is kind of the way the system works, is it?

Yeah, 311 is like an entry point, it's it's you know, taking that information and then it's handing it off to a different system, which is what we use to manage in both cases.

And that all those cases, like for instance, within the last 30 days will be reflected on this dashboard map so that people can see.

Okay, so that case reported, may not have been inspected yet, but I can see it's on the radar, code enforcement knows about it, and so you know, and then they can also see when it eventually gets dissolved and closed and truly closed, because closed on the on the 301 side may not mean it's closed on the code.

Correct.

I think that's what you're talking about.

Yeah, so and I think we've done a we've done a we try to educate people to go to city of Tulsa.org slash code.

At the very top, it says what's the status of my code violation.

When they go there, they can look it up my address.

And then when you look up by dress, you're gonna get the entire history of that property back to 2018.

Okay.

So you're gonna see that it's had 42 cases, and mine was closed, but there's one right above it, right below it's still open that somebody report the date for I think.

Oh, okay.

So that way you still know there's an in-progress or receive status.

And then the map is really great because it's got a legend that shows you every status we have, and a very layman's term of what their statuses mean.

So what's receiving, what's submitted me, what's that's the terms we use on a daily basis.

But normal citizen wouldn't know that, correct?

Right.

So that's on the map.

And I think that's where there's been confusion because you know, I'll you you'll say, well, it's open, or they're seeing that it's closed because they're not looking at the one before it or after it, right?

Because they're calling it.

Because like Councillor Bank will say what it's a very popular issue in the neighborhood, we may get six complaints.

Correct.

One's gonna stay open, the other five can do a closed duplicate text or email.

So that'll be helpful.

And when are we standing that up?

Uh the dashboard's ready to go.

I'm actually got them integrating it into our page now.

Okay.

I ask them to integrate it last night.

So the map, so do you have to do that?

The map will be there.

Yeah, it'll be right up by the status of my code case with that link.

Next week or two, yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, they'll probably be by the end of this week.

Okay, so they've been the actual toolkit you mentioned earlier, it's it's ready to go too, and just they've got to integrate it to make it live.

No, it did the maps could be super helpful.

Yeah, because I when I get complaints because they're not happy with 311, I can send them to the map.

Yes.

Yep.

Okay.

This is it, and then I'm cutting you off.

Question number three.

Council being open all day.

Yeah, I most certainly am.

Um so one of the other things that I might suggest is the ability to add additional notes to a case once it's been opened.

Um, especially when I'm in this app and I, you know, pull up my requests, right?

Oh, then you can't add it up.

If I accidentally enter the wrong address, right?

Um, because I one of the things about that app that I don't like is um when you enter the address and you have to pick that little pinpoint on that map, um, and you're not really paying attention, did it pick the right dot, or did I actually pick the wrong thing?

I have reported things on my own house.

Um that's a job.

Is there a way potential that you do?

I know you do.

Um, but is there a way potentially that I can go back in there after I've opened the case, either update the notes in the case, or if I did screw up and enter the blog.

The only way I'm going to do right now is you have to either call three one on, which I know is very tasking, or you can email them at Tulsa 311, and they'll update it that way.

Yeah, because they send us an email, and again, it's their system, so they're going to send us an immediate email, and the admin staff will add it to the case.

So it'll on our system, it'll say original complaint and there'll be a date with an additional information.

Yeah, you just have to do it that way, right?

To my knowledge, you can't do it through the app.

Because I'm the reason why I'm thinking that is because after I've opened the case, right?

And I can't go back and add additional notes, potentially I may have thought about after the fact that hey, when we're talking about this may not occur, this only occurs during this certain dime of the day.

I could have added those notes after the fact, or if I screwed up and entered the wrong.

We can pass those on with Rio.

So the only thing I'm thinking through the logical and I think is the app maybe limited.

The more we can develop that, I think the better off that will be.

Because everybody always walks around with this in their hand except for the fluid phoneers, obviously.

So that was it.

Are you sure you're done?

I got it all on the case.

Um could you guys go a little bit more into the business side and how when you have a business that has abatement issues, how you notify that owner of that business property, um, but also the ones that are closed.

I mean, when I'm talking, business is closed, shut down.

Shut down, yeah.

And um when you talk about how you try to help them sell their property rather than demo the property, how long of a process is that?

I mean, are you guys already doing that?

Because I have a couple properties in mine that people are trying to purchase, and it's taking an extended uh long time to uh get it done.

On the notification side, both the residential and commercial, they mirror each other.

So everybody every nose goes to the property itself and that address, and then we send it to the owner of record for the Tulsa County assessors.

Now, if we open and we know of any other addresses, we'll we'll add them to the different additional notification.

So there is a distinct difference between tall grass and weeds and trash stuck and debris, is what we call a simple legal process.

We just the public information, what you can grab, that's what we use.

If it's securing, and we have to board it up, or if it's a dilapidated structure, we do a full legal research.

So we're gonna go through and find every lien holder and notify them as well.

So mortgages, banks, contractors, liens, everybody.

So you could have a you could have 10 notices go out on one property if it if it if it fits that criteria.

Yeah, uh, so many times we know of others and we'll identify them.

Um as far as the business side and the developers and and investors, recently I have we have started passing those along to Aaron Hursley because I know he's got his eyes out for property and people looking for connections, but other than that, we don't have a big resource pool of investors looking to buy commercial projects.

It's mostly all almost all geared around residential, yeah, or even just make some multifamily, but it's usually small small single family.

There's one in particular that particular that has been in the news recently that has had uh a spike in crime.

And so um, whatever we can do to, and I know that there is someone very interested in that property, but it's just taking I mean the the guy is slow as molasses wanting to sell it.

I'll compare that to selling the promenade as well.

It's you've got a you've got an out-of-town investor or an out of town owner that's just not gonna hurt.

Just by saying that we're either asking me with an astronomical working cost or they're just slow on, but like the one you're speaking of, which I know which one you're talking about.

We're meeting with that owner every other week to keep them apprised of the issues we're having.

Well, it's just not that one, but yeah, I mean, there's like I said, there's a couple of things.

There's a couple that have had a spike in crime.

So yeah, especially 41st in Yale.

So, yeah, okay.

All right.

Well, I I appreciate all that you guys do to keep our city looking pristine.

So um appreciate it.

And um any other questions for these guys.

Yes, okay.

Um Council Hall uh Town Hall this this week uh about some of the programs.

Uh rolling out that's being proposed.

Um any of those impacting the budget at all, or is it just uh well there is a position?

You can talk about the VIP program.

So uh Council Hart Harper is talking about uh something we'll be bringing to the council very soon, uh vacancy improvement program.

Um but um we there is a position proposed, a new position in the budget called the housing program coordinator, and uh that position we can potentially uh administering that program as well as a couple others that will help to promote uh redevelopment of affordable housing.

So housing that's currently vacant, redeveloping it to become an affordable housing.

So uh yes, there is a position that's proposed in there to be able to administer those programs.

Okay, all right.

improvement program um but um we there is a position proposed a new position in the budget called the housing program coordinator and uh that position would be potentially uh administering that program as well as a couple others that will help to promote uh redevelopment of affordable housing so housing that's currently vacant redeveloping it to become an affordable housing so uh yes there is a position that's proposed in there to be able to administer those programs okay all right thank you guys oh wait wait wait not off the hook yet councillor dent thing I saw that go ahead or be it for me to interrupt um I just want to tell you thank you for everything that you guys do especially you brett you're like our VIP at the city and I can just well I'll just appreciate that but it's my team my team is awesome and I have a team that just loves what they do and they're very committed to staff it's my team well I'm very grateful thank you you have a very dedicated team we appreciate them a lot they are counselor Drite just wanted to wrap back to the question and answer here about staffing so in an upcoming meeting here as I understand it there will be like a highlight of all the staff positions in the budget proposal so that we can focus in on and better understand so we'll put a as I said this morning we'll throw glitter on that one and make sure we all hone in on the um code enforcement side but um I think there's going to be a whole rundown I think Marissa said that we're gonna have a meeting that's all about the interest new staffing across departments that's right there's vacancies and yeah new positions yeah but we'll have to pay attention to that one yep yep okay last call anybody over how far along we're right almost really three that's awesome and that team's actually okay so do you have enough staff yeah that is a very good update that's perfect I'm glad to hear how about shopping malls one in a there's a thing and one in particular right none in particular just asking just for a friend just in general okay all right thank you guys appreciate you we are now adjourned