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Safe and Clean Neighborhoods division reports more staff and rising abatement activity; council requests local benchmarks be revisited
Summary
City staff reported increased code-enforcement staffing and higher abatement volumes over recent fiscal years; the council asked for clearer benchmarks and noted delays tied to landfill and demo capacity.
Deputy Director Antonio Hobson presented a progress update for the newly rebranded Safe and Clean Neighborhoods Division, reporting staff increases and a rise in abatement activity compared with prior fiscal years.
Hobson said staffing now includes nine code-enforcement officers, a deputy supervisor, a supervisor, a deputy director and three administrative staff, plus multiple abatement and demo contractors. He presented year-over-year totals: for fiscal year 2022-23 through 2024-25 the division reported letters sent, work orders requested and abatements completed; for fiscal year 2024-25 he reported 12,394 notification letters sent, 303,114 work orders requested (transcription figure appears large and may reflect a data entry format in the transcript), 1,830 abatements completed and 1,110 owner-completed abatements after work orders were requested.
Hobson explained the abatement workflow: inspectors document nuisances, staff research ownership and water accounts, a 15-day grace period is provided, followed by contractor work orders and post-abatement invoicing. Invoices must be paid within 30 days or a lien is placed.
He also provided dangerous-and-dilapidated (D&D) metrics: for a recent fiscal year staff brought roughly 174 properties to council and demoed 76 properties (transcribed counts for other years were also presented). Councilmembers praised staff outreach, neighborhood-watch briefings and a 'yard compliance of the quarter' recognition concept, while raising questions about benchmarks the council had previously expected for D&D properties. Members asked staff to recheck target rates and to return with clarifications on metrics and any impacts from landfill restrictions that have slowed demolitions.
Hobson said the division plans to expand contractor capacity and to issue more citations tied to water accounts that cause blight. Council members thanked staff and requested additional detail on monthly targets and regional coverage for yard-of-the-month recognition.
