Decatur City officials discussed Ordinance 254619, a proposal to adopt the 2018 edition of the International Property Maintenance Code to replace the city's current 2009 edition.

Speaker 2, a staff presenter, told the council: "So this is to update and adopt a 2018 property maintenance code." He added, "We're going from a 2009 to 2018," and said the update is needed in part because the CDBU software the city uses supports the 2018 edition.

Speaker 3 pointed out a published error in the ordinance's ordering of sections and urged staff to correct it, saying the provision listed as section 14 (naming the Board of Appeals of Construction Industry as the hearing board) should be moved to number 5. "So we will move 14 up to number 5," Speaker 3 said.

Council members pressed staff on enforcement procedures. Speaker 5 asked whether summonses and notices could be sent by certified mail rather than delivered in person, noting other municipalities use mail to speed enforcement. Speaker 2 and other staff responded that some notices (such as unsafe-building notices) are already certified mail, but municipal summonses are handled through the magistrate's office and the legal department and are typically served in person by the police department. "The police department serves in person," Speaker 2 said, and added that "over the years, manpower shortages have been a big issue."

Speaker 4 said staff will review state code and the feasibility of using mail for summonses and follow up with the council. The item remains scheduled on the council's agenda; Speaker 1 reminded the body that the next meeting is set for Dec. 1 at 6:00 p.m.

The discussion covered substantive code changes, an editorial correction to the published ordinance, the software-driven need to adopt the newer code, and follow-up work for legal and police procedures. No formal vote on Ordinance 254619 was recorded in the transcript.