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work, and some record by way of current 'open' cases. • Seven of ten cities have 'proactive' enforcement versus simply `reactive' enforcement (where cities will act upon violations observed I versus just responding to complaints received). • Two of ten cities use an Administrative Ticket or something similar while many others have mandatory fines. • All cities allow resident's time extensions for bringing a property into compliance if there is a valid reason. These reasons would typically include.- medical, physical, and financial reasons, or, if the owner were cooperating and making progress towards compliance. • All cities performed abatements, however, mostly only for grass and snow violations. Most staff stated they preferred the citation process. • All cities use the court citation process; most issuing 2-15 per year. No other city staffs are required to obtain council approval before the issuance of a citation. • Nine of ten cities have rental registration or rental licensing programs. • Four of ten cities have point-of-sale inspection programs. • Seven of ten cities have formal or informal programs to canvas neighborhoods to observe and act upon code violations. 2.3 Innovative programs observed.- • Seven had neighborhood inspection type programs to eliminate public nuisance violations and promote property maintenance improvements, I such as Shoreview's SHINE program (brochure attached). • Hennepin County has court citations which require the mandatory payment of a fine but do not require attendance before a judge in a court hearing. Escalating fines for non-compliance - $,100, $,250, $,500 if the property owner does not pay the fines, and/or does not bring the I property into compliance, a court citation is then issued). Fines which are not paid - being assigned to taxes for collection. Charging fees for abatements and re-inspections to help offset the cost of code enforcement operations. Free trash pick-up for citizens at an off-site location once a year (costly). Feedback cards sent with each violation notice. Brochures about property maintenance and common violations that are sent with first notice of violation. 2-3 minute segments about nuisance codes and property maintenance placed on cable channels. 2.4 Trends observed include.- • Aging-in-place populations not performing necessary house maintenance. • Cities becoming more proactive enforcing housing code regulations I (but also providing assistance programs). Page 2 of 3 C:\Documents and S,ettings\margaret.driscoll\LocaI S,ettings\Temporary Internet Files\OLKD6\RCAPrePacketCodeEnforcDlscussO2252007.doc