Committee reviews ordinance to allow municipal foreclosure on liens for hazardous or vacant properties

Quincy Armstrong of the municipal legal department and Scott Campbell of BOA Enforcement briefed the committee on a proposed ordinance to add enforcement language to Title 23 that would allow municipal liens created for boarding-up, abatement and other code-enforcement costs to be enforced through foreclosure under Alaska statutes.

Campbell described regular field work by BOA Enforcement to board and secure broken-into or hazardous properties, noting that those emergency actions create municipal costs that are recorded as liens on the properties. "We encumber a tremendous amount of board up fees on a weekly basis," Campbell told the committee, and said collection efforts and liens recorded under current practice have had limited success recovering costs.

Armstrong explained that the proposed text would make explicit what state law already allows and mirror language already used in Title 15 (vacant and abandoned property) so the municipality could initiate foreclosure to recover abatement costs when collection through ordinary means fails. The presenters cited Alaska statutory provisions that permit lien enforcement and foreclosure for assessed municipal charges and gave committee members copies of the statutory references.

The ordinance is scheduled for public hearing. Committee members asked clarifying questions about targeted use (bank-owned properties and negligent owners were described as frequent cases), the process for recording and collecting liens, and whether the change would affect property owners' due-process rights. Presenters said the proposal incorporates statutory foreclosure procedures and that the municipal process would be coordinated with existing legal requirements; no formal action was taken at the meeting.