Since 2010, the city of Aberdeen has handled substantially more abandoned and unlicensed vehicle cases than it did in the three years before.
The number of nuisance calls involving furniture and appliances also has risen steadily since 2009.
According to Aberdeen's yearly nuisance summary, the city handled 164 vehicle cases in 2009. That number totaled 314 in 2010, 302 in 2011 and 326 in 2012.
The number of furniture and appliance cases climbed from 12 in 2009 to 83 in 2010, 158 in 2011 and 235 in 2012.
Brett Bill, Aberdeen's planning and zoning director, said those numbers have risen because the city has received more complaints. Bill believes more people are “aware that we take care of those sorts of issues,” he said.
“I think word has gotten out that if you call the code enforcement department, they'll come out and take a look at the situation and remedy it,” Bill said.
Bill, who presented his annual report to the Aberdeen City Council Jan. 22, thinks the city is cleaner than it was four or five years ago.
One reason for the better appearance is that the city adopted the International Property Maintenance Code in 2003, Bill said. Another big reason is that Aberdeen has had two code enforcement officers since 2007.
Code enforcement officers deal with nuisances, such as grass and yard waste, junk, garbage, furniture and appliances and building maintenance, as well as snow and sidewalks. They also handle zoning ordinance issues, sign code issues and health and safety.
When the city receives a complaint, the code enforcement officers like to contact people face to face if possible, Bill said. Those personal visits lead to quicker compliance, he said. The homeowner also sees that there's actually a person behind the request.
If the personal visit doesn't work, the homeowner will be sent a letter in which he or she is given so many days to do the clean-up. The length of time given depends on the size of the project.
If the homeowner doesn't meet the city’s deadline, the penalty varies, Bill said.
“I normally leave that up to the code enforcement officers themselves,” he said.
People violating the nuisance laws can get a fine “and they could also end up getting a court date,” Bill said. A vehicle might also go to the impound lot.
Mike Olson, one of those two code enforcement officers, agrees that Aberdeen looks better than it did several years ago.
In the past, a lot of neighborhoods had issues with old cars, Olson said. Aberdeen has had years with a large number of vehicle cases. The number hit 283 in 2006, for instance.
Unattended trash was a problem. There also used to be more dilapidated and uninhabited buildings.
Olson agrees that the calls have increased.
“It seems like we're getting more calls all the time,” he said.
Those calls often come from neighbors or from someone who notices, while driving, a lot of junk in someone's yard.
“We get a lot of that, where it's not even in their neighborhood,” Olson said.
Normally, the city’s awareness of a nuisance is triggered by a phone call. But when the code enforcement officers have free time, Olson said, they try to do a little proactive work in Aberdeen neighborhoods.
In the summer, “we have a hard time keeping up with grass complaints,” Olson said.
In the winter, the two officers hear about people who don't shovel their sidewalks. Also in the winter, the officers try to remove all vehicles that have been abandoned in backyards or are unattended and unlicensed.
Bill said he's not the only one who has noticed the improvement in Aberdeen. He's talked to several pheasant hunters who've been coming to the Hub City for years.
“They say, ‘Wow, it's incredible how Aberdeen has cleaned up in the past five years,’ ” he said.
Bill thinks the fact that Aberdeen has two code enforcement officers has a lot to do with the improvement.
The city approved a second code officer in 2006.
“And that was with very strong support from many members of the community,” Bill said.