FORT PIERCE \u2013 The members of the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency here voted unanimously Aug. 11 to approve an interlocal funding agreement with the city for the cost of a yearlong pilot program employing two new code-enforcement officers to work solely in the community redevelopment areas of Fort Pierce.<\/p>\n
Community and Economic Development Director Shyanne Harnage introduced the resolution to the Board that evening, whose members are made up of city commissioners wearing different hats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have outlined this pilot program to provide enhanced code-enforcement services within the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency boundaries only,\u201d she said. \u201cThese will go above and beyond the baseline code enforcement services that are currently offered through the City of Fort Pierce. If you read through the redevelopment plan, you\u2019ll see multiple goals that talk about elimination of slum and blight, vehicles, litter [and] illegal dumping. We think this is a very creative way to eliminate those issues, be more proactive and have relationships with our residents that maybe our code-enforcement officers don\u2019t have the time to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harnage then provided clarification on the pilot program oversight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are quarterly reporting requirements,\u201d she continued. \u201cThey would come to you all and discuss how it\u2019s going [and] what\u2019s happening. Then on an annual basis, we\u2019ll decide if we want to renew this program. I will say that other CRAs are implementing similar programs, and they have been very successful. I don\u2019t think this should be looked at negatively in terms of double enforcement for the residents who live in the CRA, but more so of additional beautification and how we can work together and engage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Community Response Director Shaun Coss also provided his input on the program, whose first year will cost up to $183,200.<\/p>\n
\u201cShyanne hit the nail on the head,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re definitely looking at very focused, supplemental enforcement [of] non-operable vehicles, illegal dumping, the trash and litter. There will be daily sign sweeps on the main corridors within the FPRA boundaries and we\u2019ll potentially deal with the noise complaints once we revise the noise ordinance. These are issues the typical code-enforcement officers are not going to be addressing. This is all proactive in nature and supplemental to what code enforcement typically does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Linda Hudson immediately expressed her satisfaction with the parameters of the new code-enforcement service.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, this is not necessarily complaint driven, but it is going to be aggressive and people are going to be looking out,\u201d she said. \u201cI think we need eyes on our streets and our properties and identifying it rather than somebody having to call it in. I am pleased about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Arnold Gaines, however, expressed concerns about potential misunderstandings by CRA residents directly impacted by the work of the two new code-enforcement officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s be very clear that we get the word out that certain neighborhoods are not getting picked on doubly because of this new program,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to look for cars, you need to let people understand what they can and can\u2019t do. If you have a car that might have a flat tire, but the car is registered, has insurance and is parked on their property, a homeowner\u2019s saying, why are you messing with me when my car has a tag on it? Another thing is to make sure with the different cultures that we get the right information out with the language they can understand. Because what somebody things looks bad to us, their culture might think think is beautiful. It\u2019s a disconnect. Let\u2019s be proactive and get the word out instead of getting all these emails after you guys start.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Curtis Johnson Jr. agreed, hoping the new officers will solve the issue of illegal signs in the city\u2019s rights of way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should do a campaign to let people know who they are and what their assignments will be,\u201d he said of the new officers. \u201cI think it\u2019s a really good program and I\u2019m really interested to get the community to understand we\u2019ve got to change the behaviors here to clean our city up. One of the things I want to talk to you about is trash cans. That\u2019s becoming a problem because they\u2019re in the street now, and people are hitting them causing damage not only to their cars but to the cans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Hudson posed a final clarification question related to the renewed enforcement of non-operable vehicle in the community redevelopment areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, you\u2019re talking about on private property if somebody leaves a vehicle and it\u2019s parked there forever and it doesn\u2019t move and grass grows around it,\u201d she asked. \u201cIs that the kind of code enforcement you\u2019re talking about in terms of the vehicles?\u201d<\/p>\n
Coss tackled that inquiry.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes ma\u2019am,\u201d he replied. \u201cVehicles parked there with flat tires and clearly not operable, have expired tags or no tags on private property. The Police Department will continue to handle vehicles within the right of way or on the streets. The key component to this campaign is public education. A very big focus for these officers is going out and speaking with the residents and business owners and educating the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FPRA Board then voted unanimously for approval.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE \u2013 The members of the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency here voted unanimously Aug. 11 to approve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172,563],"class_list":["post-373944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news","tag-st_lucie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}