Building & Licensing Services reported to the Codes and Ordinances Committee on May activity and flagged several enforcement efforts and two licensing issues the department may bring back for ordinance changes.

The presenter (identified in the meeting as Building & Licensing staff) told the committee that the department received 17 complaints in May, closed 8 and has 9 active cases. Trash and property-maintenance complaints comprised roughly half of the workload, the presenter said, and staff are encouraging landlords to make tenants aware of collection schedules. The presenter noted ongoing junkyard enforcement on properties in Garnock and Old Dover Road and said the courts have authorized city cleanup in at least one case; cleanup costs are placed as tax liens on the property and can lead to city ownership if unpaid.

On encampments, the presenter said property owners can add private land to a no-trespass list to allow police enforcement. The department also said it has public-education brochures on inflow and infiltration and agreed to make materials available again for the public.

Under the "other" agenda item staff explained two licensing questions for future consideration. On hawkers and peddlers the presenter said the state statute (RSA 31) that once required a state-level permit has been repealed; the city retains local authority under Chapter 171 of the general ordinances. The city’s current local hawkers-and-peddlers collections average about $25 per week per permit (roughly $100 per year) and the permit requires a release for a background check; the presenter said the committee may want to keep the local permit because it provides a mechanism to identify who is soliciting in private neighborhoods.

On secondhand-dealer licenses (Chapter 110) the department said the $50 permit recently applied to a church thrift operation; the presenter asked whether the council would consider waiving or carving out fees for certain nonprofits. The presenter estimated three or four church-operated operations might be affected but asked for council direction before drafting an ordinance change.

Committee members generally expressed support for keeping hawkers-and-peddlers permitting in place and for studying a targeted fee waiver for nonprofit secondhand dealers. Staff said they will draft potential language and return when ready.

Less critical details: staff discussed standalone cleanup actions in East Rochester in prior years, the use of outside counsel to strengthen junkyard enforcement, and practical constraints about distributing educational material (utility bills suggested as the distribution channel).