Resident urges review of code enforcement after alleging favoritism and misconduct

Danielle Underwood told the City Commission during public comment on June 9 that she is raising concerns about the city’s code enforcement operations and a transfer of the unit from the police department to the Department of Community Housing and Development.

Underwood said she has compiled documents and allegations she described as evidence of longstanding problems, including favoritism in hiring and discipline, racialized harassment of officers, and time‑reporting misconduct. “This has been going on for years upon years of nobody doing anything about any of this,” Underwood said. She told the commission she has a 140‑page packet documenting the issues and said one acting supervisor was found to have improperly recorded time and that the resulting wages totaled about $4,000; she said that person nevertheless remained employed.

Underwood also described a suspended code enforcement officer and ongoing disputes over field‑work expectations, GPS monitoring and lunch breaks. She characterized the department’s leadership as lacking experience in code enforcement since the transfer.

Why it matters: Code enforcement affects property conditions, public health and neighborhood quality of life. The speaker asked the commission to investigate hiring, supervision and discipline practices and to review how enforcement is administered following the organizational change.

What the commission did: The speaker delivered her remarks during the public‑comment period; commissioners acknowledged the comment but no formal investigation or directive was recorded during the meeting.

Ending: Underwood said she would provide documents to the commission; no action was taken on the record at the June 9 meeting.