T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY - City of Marshalltown Assistant Housing and Community Development Director Clayton Ender presented a list of 190 properties not currently in compliance with city code and discussed the next steps in enforcement during Monday night’s counicl meeting.

Property maintenance and code enforcement have been hot topics within Marshalltown over the last few years, and during Monday night’s city council meeting, new Assistant Housing and Community Development Director Clayton Ender presented the findings of a fact-finding mission he recently undertook to see just how many property owners are not in compliance.

After summarizing the basic details of some of the standards and violations — including general building maintenance, excessively peeling paint, loose, cracked and missing shingles or siding, broken windows and falling or leaning fences, to name a few — Ender told the council the goal is to maintain compliance and provide an ample stock of housing for current and future Marshalltown residents.

“We don’t want to go down the path of violation and having to issue fines, but that is a path that’s afforded by city code,” he said. “So really, (it’s) just a means to address property maintenance in an equitable manner that’s citywide, really trying to address every neighborhood, and it’s hopefully equal or comparable.”

For the last two months or so, he has been working on compiling a list of properties not meeting the aforementioned standards using a variety of tools including Google street view and his own eyes after driving around town to survey them himself. Once he made the list, it was shared with the city’s two code enforcement officers, who were dispatched to take photos showing the conditions at the properties in question.

CONTRIBUTED GRAPHIC – A map of the noncompliant properties that Ender shared with the city council on Monday night shows that the vast majority are located on the north side of Marshalltown.

“What that got me is this map that’s up on the screen — 190 properties that I’ve identified as needing to address property maintenance. I will say this list continues to grow and flux. I drive around town on occasion and I go ‘Oh, I didn’t have that one’ (or) ‘I didn’t have that angle from Google street view, and I didn’t realize they were missing all their siding in the rear because I can only see from the front. So if you go down an alley, you might get a different view,” Ender said. “So this is really round number one of property maintenance. We’re looking at it comprehensively, citywide. I’m not too surprised by where a lot of the properties were identified. It’s in the path of where we had the tornado. We had a more mature tree canopy and the derecho came through, so there (were) elements of disaster that contributed to this.”

With the tornado now nearly seven years in the past and the five-year anniversary of the derecho on the horizon, Ender felt it was important to ask “At what point is it necessary to move on and get these things fixed?” From there, he laid out his proposed next steps, the first of which would be issuing notices of violation on or before April 1 and giving property owners 30 days to either abate the issue or request an extension to complete the work.

“Really, an extension is not gonna be granted as just a means of special privilege. ‘I want an extension, so I should get one.’ No, that’s not enough. ‘Hey, I need a couple months to budget this into my family’s finances, pull aside some money.’ That would be a more reasonable means to grant an extension,” Ender said.

Owners who fail to acknowledge the letters and/or complete the improvements as stipulated under city code could be fined $750 for the first offense and $1,000 for each additional offense.

“I don’t want to go down that path. I want to see properties be maintained. I want to work with people, but there needs to be a basis for why an extension is being granted (other) than simply ‘I just don’t wanna do it’ or ‘I just want more time,'” he said.

As city councilors took turns sharing comments and questions, Councilor Jeff Schneider commended Ender for “an excellent memo” and was happy to see the issue gaining traction.

“It was well-written, and I know there was a lot of effort by a lot of city staff put into this, so thanks to everybody. I just want to say thanks, (and) I’m glad we’re doing this,” Schneider said.

Citing past experiences hearing appeals from property owners, Mayor Joel Greer didn’t realize the fines were that high and could accumulate so quickly, and Ender clarified that they were not unique to property maintenance but covered basic municipal infractions and came from Iowa Code. Councilor Gary Thompson felt the $750 fine was “steep” and wondered if the council would have any leeway on issuing them. He also asked Ender about a breakdown of the properties between rental and owner-occupied housing as well as commercial.

Ender responded that he has all 190 of them on a spreadsheet, and while he hasn’t confirmed the number of rentals, he said around 66 of them had different mailing addresses than property addresses, which would suggest that they are rentals. Greer inquired about how many were illegal rentals, and Ender said about half of the ones already found are unregistered rentals that will need to be addressed.

“Sometimes we get looking at the properties, and more issues end up arising than we initially thought we were looking for,” Ender said.

Fellow Councilor Barry Kell applauded the effort and Ender’s willingness to work with property owners as opposed to immediately resorting to punitive measures. The assistant housing and community development director reiterated that the city intends to be reasonable in promoting compliance and allowing time for repairs to be completed.

Ender said sending out the letters early in the spring is intentional in hopes of giving property owners the whole season along with summer and fall to take care of the maintenance. Councilor Mark Mitchell told Ender he had done an “excellent job” on the project and expressed optimism that the effort would trickle down to other aspects of city code in tackling other issues that have not been addressed for almost a year.

“Good idea. Fine somebody, (and) maybe the word will get around that you’re hitting them in the pocket and everybody will start doing their job,” Mitchell said.

Greer spoke positively of three houses on 3rd Avenue he thought were “goners” but have since been improved greatly, and Ender then noted that 19 of the 190 properties have been identified as dangerous with collapsed roofs and foundation walls falling in and will likely receive additional inspections or Iowa Code 657A proceedings. Eleven of those 19 are vacant, but the other eight are currently occupied.

Thompson asked Ender if he needed anything from the council, and he replied that he just wanted to educate and make them aware of the effort in case they receive calls about it. City Administrator Carol Webb gave Ender kudos for taking on the project of his own volition and knowing that addressing dilapidated properties is seen as a high priority in terms of improving Marshalltown’s image going forward.

“He just took charge and started this project, and I think he’s done an excellent job with it,” Webb said.

Thompson commented that the majority of calls he receives are about “little things” like cleaning up neighborhoods, to which he jokingly responds “stop driving by my house,” and he called Ender’s effort “a good first step.” Kell wondered if the community could assist, and Ender pointed to an online form that allows citizens to report nuisances with specific details available.

Ender also credited the city’s two nuisance officers, Matt Clawson and Joe Trowbridge, for their “amazing” work and called them his eyes in the field.

Councilor Melisa Fonseca asked if unpaid fines would be added to the owner’s taxes or be assessed as a lien against the property, and Webb said the city would probably want a court to order the repairs. If they weren’t made, the owner would be held in contempt, and the owner would have “plenty of time.”

“I think trying to get compliance is more important than recovering a fine for it is what I would say,” Webb said.

Ender added that the fines would be “a last resort,” and he encouraged any property owners with questions to reach out to him. He acknowledged that the overall map of noncompliant properties was heavily skewed to the north side of town but said he also inspected the south side as well.

During the public comment period, Jim Shaw noted that only four of the noncompliant properties he could spot were on the south side of town and felt a $750 fine could hurt the city’s poorer residents.

“So I’d just like you to take (that) into account, look at that map and see where it’s all at and try to put that in your mind. Because about the only place that I don’t see in yellow is the mayor’s,” he said.

Leigh Bauder said Ender’s project was “exciting” and made her want to jump for joy. She suggested an effort similar to a tool lending program the city had previously launched to see if Boy Scouts and/or youth groups would be interested in helping elderly and impoverished residents make necessary improvements to their properties.

Councilor Greg Nichols mentioned the work of the NEAT subcommittee in finalizing an agreement with Mid-Iowa Community Action (MICA) to help coordinate volunteers with hope for further action to come in April.

“Any group, organization or whatever that has able bodied people, we could sure use your help because we do believe there are seniors and those that do not have the physical capabilities that could use some assistance,” Nichols said.

Ender highlighted various resources available to individuals if they demonstrate financial need. The final public comment came from Marco Yepez Gomez, who said he didn’t believe the report was complete without “a fuller understanding” of the context behind the violations and worried it could create “unnecessary frustration” among the people of Marshalltown.

“I doubt anyone here believes that residents intentionally neglect their properties or willfully violate city ordinances, and I certainly don’t think anyone believes that poor property ownership is somehow unique to one part of town. Those with an understanding of socioeconomic factors will look at the map and recognize that there could be underlying systemic issues affecting these property conditions,” Yepez Gomez said. “The report does provide valuable insights, but it’s incomplete because it leaves major questions unanswered, especially about the pattern the map reveals.”

He urged the council to get to the root cause of the matter and wondered if sending a notice was the best or only option without first seeking further understanding.

“To illustrate my point, imagine (that) the state or federal government sent us a letter demanding we fix all of our poorly maintained roads before winter. Most of us would find that tone deaf — not because we deny the problem, but because we know financial constraints played a major role,” Yepez Gomez said. “A more compassionate approach would be to ask why the roads are in poor conditions and then offer resources to help fix the issue rather than issuing demands through a notice letter. I hope the council sees the parallel here and understands that there are deeper unanswered questions behind the map’s pattern that deserve further attention. Thank you.”

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.