Council heard from code enforcement and the Building Standards Commission Monday about enforcement capacity, rising demolition costs and community complaints about dumping and rental properties.

David Pennington, chairman of the Building Standards Commission, asked council to consider rolling over existing funds into next year’s budget or increasing demolition authority. Pennington said one property on Main Street that the commission has voted to demolish is currently in litigation and that a three‑year‑old estimate put demolition at about $65,000. “If we have to get a hazmat team in there,” he said, “that’s gonna cost considerably more than a normal demo.”

Code enforcement officers reported increased case activity and higher compliance rates tied to a focus on education and field contact. The fire marshal’s office, which now oversees code enforcement, told council officers initiated 757 proactive cases last year and handled 248 requests through the city’s request-tracker system. The department said bandit-sign removals and other abatement work have increased.

Chief-level staff noted a jump in liens recorded: a prior low-year figure of about $6,700 reflected under-collection following staff turnover; the current lien total is about $75,000 after the department re-established proper county lien procedures. “The outlier is the 6,700 and not the 75,000,” a staffer said to clarify that the higher total represents restored, more-correct lien accounting.

Councilmembers pressed staff on a multi-front set of issues: mattress and bulk-debris pickup and TxDOT debris left on right-of-way, abandoned signs and bandit signs, code compliance at apartment complexes, and the pace of rental registration processing. Code staff said rental registration processing is active (one staffer processing 167 registrations) and that the rental-fee structure and ordinance may be revisited to distinguish small “mom-and-pop” landlords from corporate owners.

Game-room and coin-operated-amusement revenues were flagged as down; staff said some venues had been shut after investigations by other law-enforcement agencies and that revenues should recover as cases are closed. Council asked staff to compile three-year comparisons for lien activity and to return with a strategy to address long-standing problem areas, including Union Street, Lake Road and parts of District A.

Nut graf: Building Standards and code enforcement told the council that aging properties, higher cleanup or hazmat risk and renewed lien activity will likely increase enforcement costs; staff asked for budget clarity and potential ordinance changes to help target fees and enforcement resources.

Ending: Council directed staff to return with documentation on rental registrations, a three-year lien comparison, and details on game-room/8‑liner enforcement and revenue trends before the next budget meeting.