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Del City resident urges stronger code enforcement after neighborhood blight complaints; city offers follow-up
Summary
A long‑time Del City resident pressed the council May 5 to address persistent code violations on Delrento Drive. City officials directed the resident to meet with the chief code official and promised follow-up and monitoring by the Ward councilmember.
A Del City resident on May 5 told the City Council he was frustrated by repeated code violations in his Delrento Drive neighborhood and said repeated calls to the city’s code-enforcement office have not produced consistent results.
Resident Ricky Johnson, who said he has lived in Del City for 33 years, described mattresses on porches, vehicles with flat tires, unauthorized sheds and unkempt yards. “I had pride in my neighborhood, and I would just like to see it clean,” Johnson said, asking why code enforcement did not consistently address the properties he reported.
City officials responded at the meeting. The city manager said staff would look into the specific addresses Johnson mentioned and identified Kelly Wilbanks as the city’s “chief code official,” inviting Johnson to meet with her after the meeting to review the complaints and request enforcement. A councilmember who identified himself as Johnson’s Ward 4 representative also offered his personal phone number and told Johnson to call if the problem was not resolved.
Johnson said he had called code enforcement multiple times and that his wife had called as well; the resident said sometimes crews responded but often the problems persisted. The city manager and Wilbanks acknowledged the complaint and offered to follow up.
No formal policy change or vote took place; council members asked staff to investigate the addresses Johnson named and report back. The council asked Johnson to return in six to eight weeks to update the body on the results of the follow-up.
What residents were told
- Code enforcement: Kelly Wilbanks, identified at the meeting as the chief code official, offered to meet Johnson after the council meeting to get addresses and escalate enforcement where appropriate. - City manager: Said staff would “absolutely look into those things” and apologized for any inconvenience. - Ward councilmember: Offered direct contact information and urged Johnson to come back to a future meeting if unresolved.
Next steps
Staff said they will review the specific complaints, determine whether violations meet enforcement criteria, and conduct inspections and citations as appropriate. The resident agreed to return in approximately six to eight weeks to report whether the city’s actions resolved the issues.
