John Clarke: Code enforcement with a ‘pretty please’ and no citation
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Code enforcement has long been an issue in this area, or more specifically lack thereof. None of the aforementioned suggestions will alleviate the growing problem. Codes need to be enforced and heavy fines or forfeiture of said properties needs to take place. It is a travesty that so many get away with non- compliance.
Codes are still not in compliance at the Bon Air.
Instead of ‘renting’ lawn care equipment could the City setup a roving group of Billy Goats? I’ll bet Ex-Commissioner Marion Williams could handle such a group and help keep the City’s grass cut.
Are there some bad apples in the cadre of inspectors? No doubt, but there are some really good ones as well. I personally know of two who have worked very diligently in our area in the last 10 years. The issue is the current leadership. The attitude of the leadership in any organization trickles down. Time for a change!
I am in your area and the two you are referring to have been useless to me. Been reporting issues for over a year with no results!
Nancy, send me a PM with your concerns and let’s see what we can do.
WHEN INCOMPETENT MGR’S HIRE INCOMPETENT RELATIVE’S THIS WHAT YOU GET
AMEN!
I tell you what you do..go ask the RC code officer that was murdered doing his duty if they think it should be kindler and gentler…
EVERY CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICER SHOULD WEAR A BODY CAMERA WHEN DEALING WITH THE PUBLIC. A kevlar vest also. These folks do not deal with caring people.
Agree 100%!!!!
Thanks for pointing these issues out, John.
On one recent Wednesday afternoon, I counted no less that 8 Code Enforcement trucks lined up parked on Telfair next to the Municipal Building – all new Ford trucks!
All you have to do is take a ride4 around Augusta to see that the work that TAXPAYERS pay for is not being done for Where is the ENFORCEMENT in Code Enforcement?!
The last time I went to the Marble Palace, the entire Code Enforcement fleet was moored on the far side of Telfair Street. No, it wasn’t lunch time. Let the “Enforcers” go and eliminate the Code Enforcement Department and its management. Beef up the Marshal’s office and give them code enforcement duties. The lack of logic, motivation, and innovation in ARC government is stunning.
Good points commissioner. Many of us feel and understand your frustrations. I think every law enforcement officer of any type should be wearing a ballastic vest. It’s like wearing a helmet, once you get used to it you forget the extra weight.
this disaster of a program will only fail miserably . rentals will not be returned, they will come back damaged and broken. enforce the codes, give fines, when they go to get license renewed or pay taxes, you have to pay for your violations. fees will go up as time passes. \
You realize this would require Wayne Brown to hire an entire law firm to prosecute and fine code violators?
TAP needs to do some investigative reporting concerning a recent “code enforcement” training conference where it is alleged that damage to property occurred and Augusta administration was contacted. Was the dept. head aware of the officers’ out of town horse play and why did one code officer already resign?
Just slipped and approved the 50K rental program last year. Couldn’t someone see through this……..another easy 50K that went through with not enough objections. Seems like 100’s of thousands of dollars have been approved much too often, no wonder they find ways to increase our property taxes. Get rid of people that are running and slipping things through in RC government that answer and think of unpractical ways to problems (or make problems) by throwing money at a broken wall.
Same old thing I’ve been saying for years, when the government is in control, there is no control. A private company has to make a profit in order to survive, the government just raises taxes. Most of the higher ups don’t know what they’re doing anyway. Therefore the ones who supposed to be doing the job can take advantage of their boss. We had a city employee on our street that drove a dump truck and trailer parked at his house for four to five hours a day. We have a junk yard operated out of a house. Yards that are not cut. If this department was eliminated, I don’t think it would make a difference anyway.
I can tell you 100% what branch of the code enforcement is working very well and that is the ones that come out and look at your construction site and make sure the wiring, plumbing and structure, insulation is properly done. I just got through two inspections on two different properties and they found some discrepancies and we got them fixed and they came back and approved the fix. And by them finding these errors they saved me headaches and money down the road when they would have manifested and shown themselves as problematic . I can’t say enough about the stellar employees that came to inspect. In about two weeks it will be time for a final walkthrough and hopefully approval on one project.
Wow. Just WOW! Good work Commissioner Clark. You and Sylvia keep shining a light on this corrupt and incompetent City/County government.
Best article I’ve seen in a while John. You speak the truth. There also needs to be an external investigation dealing with a code enforcement employees incident in Savannah Georgia recently. Things that need to be looked into are damaged rental sweets , alcohol abuse , and alleged sex capades with these married employees while representing Augusta in a Savannah seminar. And what troubles me even more are active city officials trying to sweep this information under the rug. Augusta Government is in the midst of dealing with a budget crisis. The Augusta Commissioners need to have enough backbone to abolish this unneeded code enforcement department. The Augusta sheriff’s Dept., Augusta Marshalls Dept., and The Inspections Dept.. need to resume the responsibilities of the Code Enforcement Dept. as they did in the past before this Department was created.
Code “ pretty please” is an absolute waste of taxpayers dollars. Extremely incompetent leadership is just the tip of the iceberg. If we are paying people to sleep, at least take the truck away.