New enforcers hope to clean up the trash

Lisa Snedeker

Thursday, May 20, 1999 | 11:43 a.m.

Dorothy Walker is worried about her neighbors, specifically the ones who allow broken-down vehicles and piles of rubbish to litter their yards.

The 30-year North Las Vegas resident, who lives in Walker Park near June and West streets, has approached the City Council several times in recent months with complaints about the lack of code enforcement in her neighborhood.

"The city built us 45 new homes, and it's important to keep our neighborhood beautiful," Walker said, referring to the houses the city built as replacements for homeowners in Windsor Park, a 30-year-old subdivision that started sinking about five years ago, rupturing pipes, uprooting floorboards and cracking walls.

Walker is not alone in her concern. Lack of code enforcement in the city's older neighborhoods is one of the issues that came to the forefront during the recent municipal primary election.

City Council members agree, which is why one of the priorities they set last year was to beef up code enforcement.

In the past there was not as much of a commitment to code enforcement, which used to be the responsibility of the fire department, said Don Schmeiser, director of the Development Services Department.

Schmeiser oversees the newly created city Code Enforcement Division, which has seven employees, including Manager Sheldon Klain, who made a presentation to the council Tuesday on the division's game plan to clean up the city.

"We frankly don't have a lot of sympathy for people who aren't willing to clean their property of junk and trash," Schmeiser said.

The division's primary responsibility is to respond to citizen complaints, Klain said. Residents can call the Code Enforcement Hotline at 633-1677, and every effort will be made to investigate a complaint within 72 hours.

The top priorities code enforcers will be on the lookout for: open and vacant structures; trash, junk and debris; unlicensed and inoperative vehicles; outside storage; and overgrown grass, weeds, brush and trees.

The division's other priority is eliminating graffiti, Klain said. Residents can report graffiti by calling 633-1871.

During its first two years the new division is being funded with approximately $400,000 in Community Development Block Grants, federal funds administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Schmeiser said.