Glendale code staff defend Glendale1 limits and reassign inspectors to boost proactive enforcement; council asks for follow‑up

Deputy City Manager Rick Saint John and new code official Tasha Jefferson briefed the council on Oct. 28 about an administrative policy that limits the number of code‑violation reports an individual may submit through the Glendale 1 platform.

Saint John said the change — implemented in March 2023 — reduced the limit from five reports per week to two and eliminated an administrative practice of “stacking” large batches of cases submitted at once. Staff said a handful of complainants had been submitting many cases ("14, 20, 25 at a time"), concentrating inspectors’ time responding to particular residents’ complaints and pulling field staff away from proactive inspections across their grids.

Staff described a reorganization intended to increase proactive inspections: the city reduced the number of enforcement grids from 12 to nine, assigned nine inspectors to focus exclusively on proactive grid work and pooled the remaining inspectors and senior staff (eight people) to respond to Glendale 1 cases citywide. Saint John said proactive work rose from about 8% of inspector activity in 2020 to roughly 50% in January 2023 and currently exceeds 60%; new code management has set a target of 75% proactive cases.

When staff began tracking complainant behavior, Saint John said, a small number of people were submitting a high volume of Glendale 1 cases, generating extra administrative burden and forcing inspectors to verify older reports before inputting them into the system. "They felt like they were working for these two individuals and not for the city as a whole," Saint John said, summarizing inspectors’ concerns.

Councilmembers raised concerns that the limit could disempower active residents and neighborhood leaders who use Glendale 1 to flag repeated problems. Several asked for ongoing reporting and a recheck of the policy after staff’s operational changes take hold. Staff recommended allowing Tasha Jefferson’s changes to play out for 60–90 days and returning with updated metrics; staff also offered to provide monthly business‑intelligence reports and to include the sanitation/bulk‑trash team in the next workshop because bulk trash is routed to sanitation rather than the code division.

On repeat offenders: staff confirmed that a property abated three times in 12 months can trigger repeat‑offender penalties in the code process; city staff said they will coordinate with sanitation on repeat bulk‑trash problems and will invite sanitation staff to the follow‑up meeting. Several council members asked staff to consider operating‑hour flexibility for inspectors (later/evening checks) to catch issues such as on‑street parking and other violations that occur outside the standard workday.

No policy change was adopted at the workshop. Staff proposed returning with a progress report and recommended data in late winter/early spring (February–March) and to include additional detail on tools, software and any resource needs.