San Jose will have code enforcement officers on duty seven days a week starting Sunday – a response to residents’ complaints that illegal activity often happens on weekends when inspectors aren’t working.
Scheduling will be changed so that two officers will work each weekend day without overtime pay to respond to such violations as illegal tree removals, construction or demolition projects and auto repairs, said Jamie Matthews, code enforcement administrator for the city.
The inspectors also will be on hand to help police officers and firefighters respond to emergencies. For example, inspectors can go out to a house fire to assess whether part of the damaged home can be occupied.
The need for inspectors on Saturdays and Sundays came to light in January, when three large sycamore trees were illegally removed in Willow Glen as residents watched helplessly after their calls to the code enforcement department were unanswered.
A pilot program that ended in December provided an inspector on Saturdays with overtime pay. The inspector will now work weekend days as normal shifts. If no emergency calls come in, they will work on regular caseloads, Matthews said.
Matthews hopes this will deter those who tended to wait until the weekends to break the law because code enforcement officers weren’t working.
So does Larry Ames, one of the neighbors who watched the illegal tree removals in January.
“In the past, people who chose to ignore the rules felt like they could just do it on the weekends,” he said. “If people called code enforcement, they’d get a message saying `call back on Monday.’ By Monday, the damage would be done.”
Residents are asked to call 911 to report illegal tree removals or such dangerous conditions as pools without fences or abandoned refrigerators with doors, Matthews said. Police officers who are free and nearby will respond to those calls first and code enforcement inspectors will follow. If police officers are responding to other emergencies, code enforcement inspectors will handle the calls alone.
Other problems can be reported by dialing 311 or the city’s call center at (408) 535-3500. Complaints also can be reported at www.sanjoseca.gov/codeenforcement.
Contact Janice Rombeck at jrombeck@mercurynews.com or (408) 275-0917.
